Improved Accelerated Life Testing

The Navy spends $10 to 100 million per year on unexpected and premature failures of outboard equipment due to cathodic delamination of rubber-to-metal bonds on electrical cable connectors, sonar transducers and hydrophones and other hardware. The Navy has identified deficiencies in qualification testing, including accelerated aging, that require improvement to prevent unreliable materials and equipment from being approved for use in the Fleet on submarines, surface ships, towed and static emplacement hydrophone arrays and minehunting systems. Specific deficiencies in accelerated life testing (ALT) have been identified with the misapplication of, or assumed, activation energies and inadequate control of laboratory test plans"applications and control of dissolved oxygen, unrealistic corrosion by-products, temperature and impressed cathodic potentials. Therefore, a proposed work effort is offered to develop an Improved Navy ALT Method that will provide protocols for defining activation energies on empirical measurements and will specify acceptable methods for controlling laboratory ALT exposures. Advancements in cathodic delamination prevention are also needed and will be developed and commercialized.