HALT Test Lab UK
Partnering with Qualmark, the leading manufacturer of accelerated reliability test equipment, we offer Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) & Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS).
HALT is performed during the design stage of a project, with the aim of quantifying and improving the robustness of a product.
Extreme levels of temperature and vibration are used, both individually and combined, to accelerate fatigue.
The testing process uses severities beyond the design limits of the product in order to accelerate the testing, which provides results in a short time frame.
Design weaknesses, which could lead to field failures, are identified in days that would otherwise take weeks of traditional testing or years of field use to show up.
The design can then be modified resulting in a robust product that will last.
The functional performance of the product must be verified during the testing in order to identify when and where failures occur.
Therefore, it is imperative that the customer provided functional testing setup covers all functions of the product design.
The capabilities of the HALT chamber are:
- -90°C to +200°C at up to 60°C/min
- Repetitive Shock random vibration producing 6DOF
- 60Grms from 10Hz to 5000Hz
HASS is a screening tool used to maintain product robustness and to identify weaknesses in manufacturing.
The profiles used are developed from the results of a HALT.
HASS can be a useful tool for cutting overall manufacturing time. If used intelligently HASS can reduce or remove extended time processes such as “conditioning” or “burn in”.
Typical problems HASS identifies:
- Certainty of whether substituted components compromise existing design/product integrity
- Poor manufacturing implementation of a sound design, e.g. dimensional tolerances, hidden mechanical handling damage, component stress from poor placement alignment etc.
- Poor or incorrectly applied manufacturing techniques, e.g. overheated PCB tracks lifting, dry joints, components mounted with extended or short wire tails, wire/harness tension or point load fret problems.
