PLOT September 2021 – Update from the working groups

Climate Working Group
Looking at the working groups, the Climate working group is a working group with a relatively recent history. This working group has existed since 2018 and was started under the leadership of Boudewijn Jacobs. The first climate-related topic we looked at in about 5 sessions was corrosion testing. In addition to discussing the background and implementation of these tests, physical tests were also carried out. Various samples were provided by the participants and exposed to, for example, a Neutral Salt Spray test, Acid Salt Spray Test, Filiform Corrosion test, Cyclic Corrosion test and Artificial Rain test. We have tried to capture the results of these tests as best as possible through photographs. If you are now thinking, “Too bad I didn't participate in these sessions,” you can view the test results via this link.

If you are now thinking, it is a pity that I did not participate in these sessions, but I would like to see the results of these tests, you can find them via this link. Proposal to establish PLOT working group “climate” Boudewijn Jacobs, Philips Lighting, March 8, 2018 (fhi.nl)

For these meetings we were guests at Signify (Eindhoven), TüV Rheinland (Arnhem), Accell (Heerenveen), Metalogic (Rotselaar (B)) and TMC Eindhoven. In addition to carrying out these tests, we were also able to carry out an outdoor exposure test at Ecomare on Texel. A unique opportunity to compare test results with data from the field. The last meeting to date was on November 13, 2020 and unfortunately had to become a digital meeting due to the corona crisis. In this meeting, all conclusions from these sessions are summarized again.

This concerns the review of the short history of this working group. This immediately brings us to the next point. What is the next topic we will discuss within the working group? When the working group was started up, a survey was conducted to determine which topics the PLOT members would like to see discussed. The topic that received a lot of “likes” in addition to corrosion/salt spray was UV/sunlight. That is why this topic will be discussed in a number of sessions. These sessions will be led by Marcel van Doesburg, the new contact person for this working group.

Within the corona restrictions, more things are possible compared to a year ago. This gives us the opportunity to organize a physical meeting again. This first meeting is scheduled for October 14, 2021. We will then be guests at Eurofins Materials Science Netherlands (Eindhoven). If you have interesting test samples, problems with testing samples or, for example, encounter certain failure mechanisms in the field with regard to UV/sunlight and would like to discuss this within this working group, you can register with Marcel van Doesburg telephone number 06-17990917 .

Looking back on the past 3 years, we can conclude that this working group has made a good start in discussing corrosion testing. We hope to be able to follow this up, together, by discussing the next topic, UV/sunlight-related testing.

Mechanical Testing Working Group
25 years of PLOT is also almost 25 years of mechanical testing working group. Looking back in the archives we see that the 1st working group meeting was held in November 1997 at the FHI in Amersfoort under the leadership of chairman Harro Jansen of Shape Technology. Initially, attention was mainly focused on mechanical loads during transport, but this soon proved to be too limited. In the early years, we collaborated with the NVC (Netherlands Packaging Center) to set up a database with mechanical stress during various transports. For various reasons this was not pursued further.

Other topics during the 1st meeting were Shock Response Spectrum, loop research, MIL STD 810 and a literature search for a CEEES document; all topics that still receive a lot of attention. It seems like nothing has changed in almost 25 years. Of course, vibrations, shocks, falls and other mechanical influences have not changed, but what has changed are materials, connections, handling new products, test and analysis options, etc. It is these changes that form the basis of the points of attention and work points. of the working group, where the basics of the tests are certainly often discussed.

Digging further into the reports of the working group meetings, we see that in the early years, under the leadership of Harro (with Aad van Dorp as secretary), a fairly regular group of PLOT members was present and that a meeting was often organized in the morning of the general PLOT meetings. This way, the available time is used effectively. It is also noticeable that the direction of the working group is regularly discussed: what are we going to do, what is needed? The strength of the group is mainly determined by the input of the members. In 2003 / 2004, we are working hard on the OTBs (environmental tests for beginners), documents that describe the basics of testing. These OTBs remain valuable to this day.

In 2005, Ton Geise took over the chairmanship and Ronnie van Leeuwen became the secretary. A few years later, Ronnie takes over Ton's role and not much later the meetings are separated from the general PLOT meetings. This has the advantage that meetings can be held at a location suitable for mechanical testing and that mechanical test setups can be used in practice. The aim is to combine theory, exchange of experiences and practical testing. Sometimes this works well and sometimes less so, which depends very much on the chosen subject.

Topics that have appeared more often on the agenda over the years are resonance testing, shock testing with SRS, and accelerating testing. We were able to experience demos at TP Vision (measuring data on the shaker), multi-axial vibration at LMS, shock response spectrum at Thales, modal analysis workshop at ENMO, mixed mode vibration tests at Jabil and drop tests of packaging at IPS. We also collaborated on the HALT theme with workshops at BARCO and Maser Engineering.

Looking back on the almost 25 years, perhaps not much has changed in terms of topics, but the interpretation of these topics has indeed proven to be dynamic due to the new techniques / materials / products / analysis techniques, etc. The working group will, together with the members, continue to monitor these changes.

Reliability Working Group
My first introduction to PLOT and the reliability working group was in 2010 at Philips Healthcare when Boudewijn Jakobs led a meeting regarding Accelerated Lifetime Testing (ALT). I was there from TNO at the invitation of Harry Roossien. The extremely interesting sessions and the interaction with the industrial parties, often with diverse backgrounds, were more than enough reason to join PLOT.

Now that PLOT has existed for 25 years, it is a great opportunity to go back in time and find out how the working group came into existence and what activities took place. This with the help of the knowledge and archives of Ronnie van Leeuwen and Harry Roossien.

From the moment PLOT was founded, working groups were set up. It can be concluded from the PLOT Strategy Plan 2001 – 2004 that the Reliability working group was not yet officially active at the end of 2000 and that a work plan was to be drawn up. However, old PLOT documents and minutes show that knowledge was shared on this subject from the beginning and that a number of members worked on a roadmap and a standards and literature overview for reliability testing was created. In addition, theme meetings were organized from the very beginning with topics such as: “Environmental Stress Screening”, “Reliability”, “Integration of test and design” and “Climatological tests”.

As far as can be found, reliability working group meetings were held from 2003 onwards, where, in addition to knowledge exchange, the emphasis was on creating OTBs (environmental tests for beginners). Over the years this has produced a complete set of OTBs that can be found online on the PLOT website. In the subsequent period, a trend can be seen from standardized testing to the need for further acceleration in the form of overstress testing (particularly HALT) and then ALT. From the early years, the focus has also been on failure mechanisms, the key to manageable and predictable product reliability and accelerating testing. This was initially done by discussing failure mechanisms, in recent years by thematically dealing with the reliability concept of Physics of Failure (PoF).

This is first an introduction, during the upcoming PLOT conference we will discuss it further because there is a lot to say about the developments that have been experienced over the years.