Track 1 Session 11
10:40 to 11:50 a.m. Friday June 16, 2006

Reliability Assessment of New Polymer Products with Environmentally Driven Failures

This session presents a methodology for the reliability assessment of new product offerings, where product failures are driven by environmental conditions. The methodology is valid for the case of limited related product field data and understanding of underlying environmentally driven failure mechanisms. The methodology uses reliability theory in concert with failure mechanistic models to provide high resolution models that can be used to forecast liability exposure of new product offerings. The methodology has been successfully demonstrated for evaluation of Vinyl and Olefin based products, including composites. The quantitative results generated suggest environmental region risks, overall new product risk, and risk relative to existing related products.

Key Words: Product Life Prediction, Service Life Prediction, Environmentally Driven Failures, New Polymer Products, New Product Development, Risk Assessment