Supplier of UltraHigh Accuracy Coordinate Measuring Machines and Ultrasonic Scanners!
  “Stabilis”, Latin for stability and by literary definition in the physical context, “…the ability to resist forces that tend to change the form or position of a body” and by Resource Engineering’s definition “a proprietary technological advantage that allows us to produce measuring machines to achieve outstanding accuracy and repeatability of measurement in less than ideal environmental conditions”.
 The most detrimental effect of thermal influence on a measuring machine’s performance is NOT of the first order error or the 'linear growth' associated with the material based on its Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE). The most detrimental is the second order error or the bending moments associated with a guideway or a structure and its ability to NOT grow linear because of local thermal influence due to gradients across the machine in all directions. 
Stabilis Technology therefore incorporates advanced materials technology, those materials possessing a near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion, in producing the machine’s structures and guideways. The utilization of thermally inert materials of INVAR36, Ultra-High Modulus (UHM) Carbonfiber and CARBINVAR throughout the metrology frame reduces the effect of physical changes to the structures and guideways by an order of magnitude (factor of 10) over that of traditional materials of carbon steel, cast iron and, by two orders of magnitude over aluminum. 
CARBINVARGuideway Assemblies are a Patent Pending Technology that combines exotic materials of High Modulus Carbonfiber with INVAR 36 metal alloy. These materials having nearly matching Coefficient of Thermal Expansions (CTE’s) are bonded together, ground and lapped to achieve thermally inert guideway substrates of high accuracy and extreme dimensional and geometric stability in changing environments. The CTE’s of these materials are less than 1 ppm/F°. CARBINVAR Guideway assemblies have no limitation on configuration, cross-section and length.
  To further reduce and/or eliminate the potential for bending moments or distortions in the measuring machine’s structures, Spaceframe construction is exploited. Spaceframe structures consist of 3-Dimensional triangulated construction of fully welded assemblies of plates through tab-n-slot construction of intersecting members and interlocking adjoining members, whereby material that is not contributing to the overall strength of the structure is removed and that mass is then redistributed in terms of cross members of lateral and diagonal supports to significantly stiffen the structure. The material that has been removed is taken in the form of a triangulated lattice pattern, which is then left open to dramatically decrease the thermal inertia of the structure and allow the environment to circulate through the structure’s framework. 
The final compliment to the measuring frame the ULTIMATE in high-resolution position feedback is obtained from laser interferometry with real-time environmental compensation. Each axis is fitted with its own laser scale system to provide 1-ppm accuracy and 20-nanometer resolution to optimize the stability and dynamic positioning capabilities of the measuring system. The 4 axis laser scale system includes an environmental compensation processor unit with temperature, humidity and pressure sensors to continually monitor the environment and ‘correct’ the quadrature feedback of the lasers to the motion controller in real-time for changes to the machines immediate environment.
Published by Resource Engineering, Inc.
Copyright © 2000 by [Resource Engineering]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 21 Aug 2000 13:52:17 -0700