Track 2 Tutorial 1
3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday June 9, 2009

At times, knowing where to start when developing a product durability test plan can be half the work of the program itself. This tutorial will outline some of the basic tools that can be used in developing a test plan as well as developing a database of durability information that can be drawn upon. The foundations of accelerated testing will be developed along with why and when to use these techniques. Concepts such as defining a usage profile, life-stress relationships and variable stress techniques/analysis will be presented. The use of common desktop software for the analysis of data will be discussed as well as more advanced, application-specific software tools. Key steps to understanding the basic response of system/components to various levels of stress will be detailed. The rationale to take science experiments and build them into useful engineering and product specifications, along with pitfalls to watch out for, will be central to the discussion. These basics will be used as a framework for building field linked product specifications. The methods suggested allow for a better understanding of component and system performance before developing a full test and validation plan. While the case studies will be drawn from the automotive industry, the basic steps can be applied in many areas.