The history, the state-of-the-art, and the future of the standard system for mechanical properties measurements in China,
and the trend of
standardization for mechanical properties measurements in the world are reviewed. At present, the national standard system for mechanical properties measurements has been established and can be fulfilled the basic requirements. The national standard system consists of fifty-two standards and contains all the commonly used items of mechanical properties measurements in the
international standards, including fundamentals, tension, compression, impact, hardness, bending, torsion, shearing, creep rupture, fatigue, fracture mechanics, wear, and fabrication properties etc. The structure and the scope of standard system for mechanical properties measurements, its field of applications, and contents can be added and improved continuously along with the requirements of technical development. In consequence of globalization of trade and economy and rapidly develop of technology, the trend of standardization for mechanical properties measurements in international standards and national standards in main developed countries is as follows: ① In order to match up to international standards, many countries adopted international standards equally, equivalently, or after revision as their own national standards, which is beneficial to the international trade. A promising stan-dard in strategy will be a unified standard in the world. ② The structure of standard system is modified to expand application scope of standards, to reduce numbers of the standards, and to simplify managing procedure. ③ Encouraging and promoting automatic measurements. ④ The new standards must contain the content describing uncertainty in measurements. ⑤ The standards for high-tech are developing rapidly. The standards for mechanical properties measurements in China are changing to matching up to international standards. In line with the trend, a national standard system for mechanical properties measurements, which matches up to common use in the world and is scientific and reasonable, should be established.