Temperature cycling (or thermal cycling, or temperature cycle) is the process of cycling through two
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...
extremes, typically at relatively high rates of change. It is an environmental
stress test used in evaluating product
reliability
Reliability, reliable, or unreliable may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Computing
* Data reliability (disambiguation), a property of some disk arrays in computer storage
* Reliability (computer networking), a category used to des ...
as well as in manufacturing to catch early-term, latent defects by inducing
failure
Failure is the social concept of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and is usually viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. On ...
through thermal
fatigue
Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself.
Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...
.
For machines that are operated at high temperatures, temperature cycling is a regular phenomenon that repeats with every period of use. Due to the repeated switching of the machine’s environment from a low-temperature to a high-temperature environment and back, thermal stresses are generated as a consequence of the repeated expansion and contraction of its material. It can also lead to the severe breakdown or damage of a material over a sufficient quantity of cycles. This is primarily due to the uneven expansion of various materials in a multilayered or composite substrate, due to the differences in thermal expansion coefficients between the constituent materials.
Thermal cycling tests are hence performed to characterize their behavior at various temperatures, inducing thermal stresses on components to verify their performance under temperature extremes, including nonoperating survival temperatures.
External links
Temperature Cycling (JEDEC Standard No. 22-A104D)
Environmental testing
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