Introduction of the laboratory of pressure metrology at the institute of metals and technology

In this paper the activities of the Laboratory of Pressure Metrology (LMT) at the Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT) are presented. The Laboratory tends to become a top level laboratory in Slovenian national metrology system for the derived quantity pressure, providing the international traceability of the highest-level reference standards and dissemination to lower hierarchical levels within the country. The Laboratory gained accreditation from Slovenian Accreditation in February 2002. The current scope of accreditation is the calibration of pressure gauges in the range from 100 Pa to 7 MPa. The Laboratory performs calibration of pressure gauges by direct comparison with reference gauges. The actual range of the laboratory's capabilities exceeds the current scope of accreditation and extends from vacuum at 10(-5) Pa up to high pressure of 200 MPa. The traceability scheme of the laboratory's reference and working standards to the international level is presented. The Laboratory is also active in the field of scientific metrology of physical quantity pressure. Research and development work is mainly focused on development of the horizontal traceability of low-range piston gauge to Slovenian national standards of base quantities of International System of units (SI), the extension of pressure scale to lower pressures by static expansion in gases and studies of metrological characteristics of vacuum transfer standards.