Three Approaches to Accelerated Life Testing

podcast episode with speaker Fred Schenkelberg

We can make a guess, some assumptions, or conduct an experiment. In fact, we use engineering judgment, prudent assumptions to create our experiments that lead to understanding time to failure information. Accelerated life testing, ALT, is one of the most complex and important types of experiments we conduct. It involves samples, failure mechanisms, stress, measurements, and statistics.

In my experience, there are three basic approaches to ALT: Test to pass, test to failure, and degradation testing. Each may or may not be an appropriate approach for a given situation. Each may lead to faulty or excellent results.

Let’s discuss a little about the challenges and constraints along with the attributes of each of these three approaches. And, how to determine which approach is appropriate for your current situation. We’ll also explore when and why you should conduct an ALT. That may be the fourth approach, deciding not to conduct the experiment.

This Accendo Reliability webinar originally broadcast on 12 January 2021.