Pendulum for precision force measurement.

A pendulum and a method for correcting the restoring force of the pendulum are proposed for realizing an instrument based on the levitation mass method without the use of pneumatic linear bearings. As an example a material tester using the pendulum, which evaluates the mechanical response of general objects against impact forces, is developed. The characteristics of the restoring force are accurately determined using the same instrument under the free-swing condition without the object under test. To demonstrate the high performance of the developed instrument, the impact response of a gel block is accurately determined. The possible applications of the developed method are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]