A novel piezo vibration platform for probe dynamic performance calibration

Contact probe measurement is widely used in measurements of surface roughness, roundness, form and coordinates. A novel piezo vibration platform of compact size [120 x 120 x 120 mm(super3)] for stylus probe dynamic performance calibration has been developed. A piezo tube is employed to generate movement which is measured in real time by a miniature fibre interferometer. 20 kHz control loop frequency with 1.71 nm uncertainty has been achieved. The maximum calibration range is 20 mu m with 0.3 nm resolution. The piezo vibration platform can generate a sinusoidal signal up to 300 Hz and various other waveforms, such as square, triangle and sawtooth. It can also work in sweep mode to shift the frequency up to 100 Hz continuously which is a very useful function when the amplitude - frequency response of the probe is to be investigated. (Original abstract - amended)