The 5300.4 series of NASA Handbooks for Reliability and Quality Assurance Programs have provisions for the establishment and utilization of a documented metrology system to control measurement processes and to provide objective evidence of quality conformance. The intent of these provisions is to assure consistency and conformance to specifications and tolerances of equipment, systems, materials, and processes procured and/or used by NASA, its international partners, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. This Measurement Assurance Program (MAP) guideline has the specific objectives to: (1) ensure the quality of measurements made within NASA programs; (2) establish realistic measurement process uncertainties; (3) maintain continuous control over the measurement processes; and (4) ensure measurement compatibility among NASA facilities. The publication addresses MAP methods as applied within and among NASA installations and serves as a guide to: control measurement processes at the local level (one facility); conduct measurement assurance programs in which a number of field installations are joint participants; and conduct measurement integrity (round robin) experiments in which a number of field installations participate to assess the overall quality of particular measurement processes at a point in time. Eicke, W. G. and Riley, J. P. and Riley, K. J. Kennedy Space Center CALIBRATING; CONSISTENCY; HANDBOOKS; METROLOGY; QUALITY CONTROL; COMPATIBILITY; CONTRACTORS; COST EFFECTIVENESS; NASA PROGRAMS; RELIABILITY...

This handbook is a both a description of the current practice at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a compilation of the theory and lore of gauge block calibration. Most of the chapters are nearly self-contained so that the interested reader can, for example, get information on the cleaning and handling of gauge blocks without having to read the chapters on measurement schemes or process control, etc. This partitioning of the material has led to some unavoidable repetition of material between chapters. The basic structure of the handbook is from the theoretical to the practical. Chapter 1: basic concepts and definitions of length and units; Chapter 2: history of gauge blocks, appropriate definitions and a discussion of pertinent national and international standards; Chapter 3: physical characteristics of gauge blocks, including thermal, mechanical and optical properties; Chapter 4: a description of statistical process control (SPC) and measurement assurance (MA) concepts; and Chapters 5 and 6: details of the mechanical comparisons and interferometric techniques used for gauge block calibrations. Full discussions of the related uncertainties and corrections are included. Finally, the appendices cover in more detail some important topics in metrology and gauge block calibration.