Accelerated Life Test (ALT)

Taught by James McLinn – ASQ Fellow

Days :Thursday, July 30, 2015, 8:00am – 5:00 pm

Objective
The successful student will understand how to use accelerated test principles that can improve hardware reliability for systems. Practical design techniques are encouraged with useful examples and case histories that supplement the theory. Design engineers and their managers who are responsible for design and development of long-lived systems. ALT can be a costly and time consuming activity, it is best to get it right the first time.
This seminar begins with basic theory and expands with the practical examples to cover a wide range of problems with setting-up and analyzing an ALT. ALT is actually a series of tests that can uncover failure modes and hidden flaws before a product is released. Learn easy and practical ways to approach a number of common reliability problems. This course is engineering oriented.

Topics to be Presented

1. Basics of ALT Theory

• The Basics of Acceleration
• The Stress versus Life concept
• Projecting life for materials and mechanical components
• High Stress levels and non-linear behavior
• Common stresses to apply
• Examples of creating test plans

2. Sample Size

• Three ways to pick a sample size
• Determining Confidence in test results
• Influence of prior history

3. Stress Models

• Models of Acceleration – Arrhenius, Power law, Eyring models
• Multi-Level single stress tests
• Combined Stresses
• Interaction of multiple stresses

4. Degradation and Data Analysis

• Degradation models for reliability tests
• Wear, fatigue, deterioration and failure mechanisms
• Fatigue and vibration
• Weibull Analysis of ALT data
• Data analysis examples

5. HALT, HASS, ESS and Step-Stress

• HALT approaches to design evaluation
• Why ESS as an option
• What does step-stress have to offer?
• How to do an effective HASS

6. Summary

 

Students will receive: a Notebook of all material and a certificate for 0.8 RU’s after successful completion.
Student must bring: Attendees are expected to bring their own laptop computers. While the course will concentrate on the content-not any particular software, a software package is necessary to facilitate learning of the material.

Biography of Speaker

James McLinn Obtained a MS in Solid State Physics before working with the semiconductor industry. He has worked in biomedical companies as well as appliance. Here he gained broad experience in ways to help companies become more competitive. During his career his responsibilities included reliability predictions, leading FMEA teams, running HALT tests and working with international subsidiaries. He has served on the ASQ Reliability Division board and the IEEE Reliability Society ADCOM. He published three monographs with ASQ; Weibull Analysis, Mechanical Reliability and Accelerated Life Test. Jim has taught a variety of classes and spoken at many reliability conferences around the world.