Traceability is a central basis for the adjustment, calibration and testing of balances and test weights. It ensures that measurement results can be related to national or international standards through an unbroken chain of comparison measurements.

The kilogram was formerly defined by the so-called International Prototype of the Kilogram, which is kept at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in Sèvres near Paris. Today, the kilogram is no longer linked to a material artefact, but is defined by a natural constant. This makes the mass scale more stable in the long term and independent of a single physical standard.

• Traceability of test weights to national or international standards
• Comparison measurements with documented measurement uncertainties
• Verification of deviation from the nominal value
• Documentation by test or calibration certificates
• Basis for reliable balance testing and calibration

Calibration of Balances

Weights used for the adjustment, calibration or testing of balances must be traceable to suitable national or international standards. This ensures that reference standards from different laboratories are comparable and that measurement results can be evaluated in a traceable way.

Traceability describes the property of a measurement result or standard to be related to a suitable standard through an unbroken chain of comparison measurements with stated measurement uncertainties.

Calibration Certificate and Measurement Uncertainty

Comparison measurements are carried out in national metrology institutes or accredited calibration laboratories. Each link in the traceability chain is documented by a test or calibration certificate.

This certificate states, among other things, the determined deviation from the nominal value, the measurement uncertainty and the reference standards used. This documentation is an important basis for quality assurance, test equipment management and audits.