News and Press Releases from National Physical Laboratory ...

Protecting engineering materials from water impact

Erosion caused by the impact of water droplets on component surfaces can lead to failures in key technological applications. For example, in steam generating plants, the leading edge of turbine blades suffer major erosion damage from the steam ...

Feb. 28, 2017

Providing quality assurance to data delivered by Copernicus Climate Change Service

The Centre for Carbon Measurement at NPL, in collaboration with the University of Reading and Telespazio France, has launched a major new project to ensure the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) delivers ...

Dec. 2, 2016

New Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials training course

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has just launched a new e-Learning training course onNaturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM). The course is free of charge, and is designed for Project Managers and scientists working in NORM industry ...

Sep. 14, 2016

Record speed and accuracy achieved with single-electron pumps

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), in collaboration with NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) in Japan, has measured silicon single-electron pumps with the highest speed and accuracy ever achieved, paving the way towards ...

Jul. 20, 2016

NPL awarded central role in WMO atmospheric monitoring programme

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has been appointed the Central Calibration Laboratory for nitrogen monoxide by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as part of a programme to better understand changes to the Earth`s ...

May 31, 2016

New guide to weighing in vacuum

This guide presents information that will assist with establishing traceability to the primary relations of the redefined kilogram, i.e. watt balance and X-ray crystal density (Avogadro) experiments. The guide gives information on the ...

Apr. 25, 2016

Guide to the storage of primary mass standards

Abstract: This guide presents information that will assist with maintenance of the SI unit of mass at National Measurement Institutes. The information presented is primarily aimed at establishing the technical infrastructure and procedures that ...

Apr. 20, 2016

Testing nanopositioning devices for Queensgate

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has a long standing collaboration with Queensgate Instruments in the area of provision of metrology for nanopositioning. NPL and Queensgate recently completed an Innovate UK project in which NPL developed ...

Jan. 3, 2016

Real-time tracking shows how batteries degrade

How disposable lithium batteries degrade during normal use has been tracked in real-time by a UCL-led team, including the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), using sophisticated 3D imaging, giving a new way to non-invasively monitor performance loss ...

Dec. 18, 2015

Testing nanopositioning devices for Queensgate

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has a long standing collaboration with Queensgate Instruments in the area of provision of metrology for nanopositioning. NPL and Queensgate recently completed an Innovate UK project in which NPL ...

Dec. 2, 2015

Dynamic calibration of pressure sensors for engines

The characterisation of the pressure sensors used to develop the next generation of petrol and diesel engines is crucial to optimising their design, improving efficiency and reducing emissions. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has developed ...

Nov. 24, 2015

NPL supports launch of International Graphene Centre, Beijing

The China-UK collaborative effort to support the development an international graphene standards and testing centre was officially launched at Zhongguancun Fengtai Science Park, Beijing, China, in October 2015. As the demand for international ...

Nov. 23, 2015

Understanding thermal performance of buildings

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is currently working in collaboration with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) on a project to investigate discrepancies between new in-situ techniques for measuring the thermal performance of ...

Nov. 11, 2015

Decarbonathon seeks innovative technologies to reduce cities` carbon footprint

The Decarbonathon is a competition created at the initiative of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, which aims to develop innovations that mitigate CO2 emissions arising from cities in order to fight global warming. Several global ...

Oct. 23, 2015

3D forest reconstruction to improve environmental monitoring

Knowledge of forests is essential to our understanding and mitigation of climate change. Covering about 30% of global land area, forests play a significant role in the delivery of ecosystem services including climate regulation, carbon storage, ...

Sep. 30, 2015

Exploring catalytic reactions at the nanoscale

Catalysts are substances that facilitate chemical reactions without being consumed, enabling industry to produce chemicals which would otherwise be uneconomic or even impossible. Catalysts are used in over 90% of industrial chemical processes, ...

Sep. 21, 2015

Table-top quantum Hall system successfully demonstrated

JT Janssen, of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), talks about the Quantum Detection team`s latest research using a table-top quantum Hall system in a video for 2D Materials Together with Royal Holloway, Oxford Instruments, Chalmers ...

Sep. 7, 2015

New CEO for National Physical Laboratory

Announcing Dr Thompson`s appointment on 18 June 2015, Dr David Grant, NPLML Chair, said: "On behalf of NPL`s Board, I am delighted to welcome Dr Thompson as our new Chief Executive Officer. Dr Thompson brings considerable experience and ...

Sep. 2, 2015

Metrology for Climate workshop report published

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has published an extensive report `Metrology for Climate - Metrology priorities for the earth observation and climate community` containing the recommendations from international research organisations on the ...

Aug. 26, 2015

Revealing the hidden meaning in mass spectrometry images

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) worked with 20 laboratories across the globe to examine one of the most significant issues in Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS): the matrix effect. A new algorithm has been developed to ...

Aug. 10, 2015

National Physical Laboratory (NPL) News