Hysteresisgraph

This is a sources sought notice. The purpose of this notice is to conduct market research and identify potential sources of commercial products/services that satisfy the Government’s anticipated needs. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516– Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a Small Business Size Standard of 1000 employees. This notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), Invitation for Bids (IFB), or any commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. NIST will not pay for any information submitted in response to this notice. Submission of information is voluntary and will not result in any obligation on the part of the Government. NIST has not yet determined its acquisition strategy for this requirement and encourages interested sources to respond to this Notice. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME Requests for solicitation documents will not receive a response. Respondents shall clearly mark any proprietary or restricted information. In the absence of such markings, NIST will assume unlimited rights to all technical data submitted. BACKGROUND The National Institute for Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Materials Science and Engineering Division (MSED) is involved in the development of standard reference materials (SRMs) for magnetic materials – critical standards for measuring magnetic materials for next generation permanent magnets for motors, electrical transformers and many other applications. NIST magnetic SRMs are the only source of SRMs for calibrating magnetometers and thus providing traceable and quantitative magnetic measurements. NIST is developing new materials and SRMs for permanent magnet measurement. The purpose of this procurement is to acquire a hysteresisgraph, used by industry for rapidly characterizing permanent magnets at high magnetic fields and temperatures. This work is in line with the NIST mission for advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance national security and improve our quality of life, as well as MML’s mission of researching industrial and environmental materials and the dissemination of tools including procedures, data and best practice guides. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT The Contractor shall provide one (1) new hysteresisgraph that meets the following minimum technical requirements. System Requirements: Electromagnet (including pole pieces, power supply, polarity switch (if appropriate), fluxmeters, thermocouples, etc.): Pole Pieces: Diameter: ? 40 mm Maximum Gap: at least 50 mm Setting resolution: micrometers Magnetic Field Range with 2.0 mm - 2.5 mm gap: at least ± 3.2 T (FeCo pole pieces) at least ± 2.4 T (heated pole pieces) Fluxmeter: Accuracy: at least ± 0.5 % Drift: < 1 digit/minute Temperature Range for heated pole pieces: at least 20 oC – 200 oC Measurable Shapes: at least cylinder, parallelogram, and ring Power Supply: 25 A (maximum output current) Software Measurement: Variable Measurement Time: < 30 seconds (minimum) at least 2 or 4 quadrant hysteresis loop Remanence (Br): ±1 % (accuracy) Normal Coercivity (HcB): ±1.5 % (accuracy) Intrinsic Coercivity (HcJ): ±1.5 % (accuracy) Maximum energy Product (BHmax): ±2 % (accuracy) Also, Hknee, HA, BA, µrecoil, Jsat, Hsat, temperature coefficients like ?Br, ?HcJ, etc. Two (2) Manuals Operational compliance with standard ASTM A977 Operating Conditions: This system will be required to operate at ambient temperature and humidity conditions. However, the contractor shall specify the limits of environmental conditions consistent with sound operation of their systems. These can include, but are not limited to, temperature, humidity (RH% and condensing/non-condensing), and potential interference from magnetic fields, e...