Environmental Testing Services

Your product will be required to stand up under any number of environmental conditions. Global Testing Labs can ensure that your product is exhaustively tested for an extensive number of conditions and incidents, from salt fog to lightning strike.

Reliability

Depending on the nature of the product, exposure to the elements may or may not be a part of its expected life cycle, but even products that are generally not meant for a great deal of environmental wear and tear will need to be capable of withstanding a reasonable amount of unexpected situations.

Read the specifics below to learn more about our extensive environmental testing capabilities, and then contact us so we can help ensure that your product is ready for what the environment has in store!

Product Durability

No one wants a flimsy product – when a product fails easily, your chances of retaining that customer drop significantly. However, when a product is more durable than your customers expect, and able to withstand more environmental trauma than they would have thought, they’re going to remember – and talk about – that product. Let Global Testing Labs make certain that your product is ready to exceed expectations.

Product Integrity

Having a product that can maintain its integrity through environmental distress is not only good for your customers, it’s beneficial for your business. Fewer product failures not only result in higher customer retention but also fewer warranty and insurance claims, lowering your costs and your stress.

Salt Fog / Cyclic Corrosion Testing Capabilities

GTL has the ability to perform a wide variety of industry test standards for Salt Fog, Salt Mist, Salt Spray and Cyclic Corrosion testing.

ASTM Salt Fog Tests

The most popular salt-fog test is ASTM B117

Enclosures & Ingress Protection

IEC 60529
NEMA 250

MIL-STD Salt Fog Testing

MIL-STD 810G – This standard includes a 4 day “wet and dry”. Samples can be placed in a controlled temp/humidity chamber for the dry cycle or simply stored at ambient.

SAE (Automotive) Salt Fog Testing

GTL is equipped to perform Salt Fog testing for the automotive industry.

Popular test standards include:

GM GMW14872 Cyclic Corrosion Testing to evaluate metallic corrosion
VW PV 1210 Body and Add-on Parts Corrosion Test

RTCA DO-160 EMC capabilities (Avionics)

The EMC portion of the RTCA DO-160 standard is well-delineated, and its setup is a departure from the traditional MIL-STD 461 standard. The sections pertaining to an EMC perspective are as follows:

Section 14. Salt Fog. This test determines the the effects on the equipment of prolonged exposure to a salt atmosphere or to salt fog experienced in normal operations.

Section 15. Magnetic Effect. This test measures the magnitude of DC magnetic field emissions generated by a component. The measurement may either be performed by determining the deflection of a compass needle, or with a Gaussmeter with adequate resolution. Equipment classifications are based on the distance at which a given amount of deflection can occur.

Section 16. Power Input. This test subjects the power input of the component under test to various sag and surge conditions that it might encounter being attached to the power bus on the airplane. Categories are based on the type of source powering the component and different conditions are specified, depending on whether the component under test is powered from 115 Vac (typically 400 Hz), 28 Vdc or 14 Vdc.

Section 17. Voltage Spike. This test involves power input of the device under test to 10 usec transient having a rise time of less than 2 usec. It applies to both AC and DC power inputs and the amplitude of the transient is defined by either one of two categories.

Section 18. Audio Frequency Conducted Susceptibility, Power Inputs. With a rationale based on inductive coupling of power frequencies/harmonics associated with AC power distribution this test includes varying severity levels, dependent on the type of source powering the component. This test applies to both AC and DC power inputs.

Section 19. Induced Signal Susceptibility. This test’s scope includes not only magnetic induction due to power frequencies and transients, but also electric field coupling. Tests apply to components as well as interconnecting cables and the categories are defined by whether or not interference-free operation is required, desired or not required.

Section 20. Radio Frequency Susceptibility (Radiated and Conducted). Conducted susceptibility testing covers the frequency range from 10 kHz to 400 MHz and applies to interconnect cabling. The bulk current injection (BCI) method is used and severity levels vary widely, depending on component location and cable routing. Radiated susceptibility covers the frequency range from 100 MHz to 18 GHz. As with the conducted susceptibility test, severity levels vary widely.

Section 21. Emission of Radio Frequency Energy. Here, a combination of conducted and radiated E-field emission tests are united under one heading. Although LISNs are specified in the test setups, this standard requires that current be measured using a clamp-on current probe. The frequency range for conducted emissions is 150 kHz to 30 MHz for power lines and 150 kHz to 100 MHz for interconnected cables. The radiated emission testing covers the frequency range from 2 MHz to 6 GHz. The standard emission curves have been tailored with notches for various types of communications. Measurement bandwidths are specified, eliminating the need for narrow and broadband testing and the level of emission is determined by the location of the component and interconnecting cables with respect to receivers on the aircraft.

Section 22. Lightning Induced Transient Susceptibility. This test simulates the effects of lightning-induced transients. It can apply to both connector pins and cables, depending on location. It uses a variety of waveforms (damped sine and inverse double-exponential) having a range of amplitudes, based on severity level which is, in turn, based on component location and cable routing.

Section 23. Lightning Direct Effects. Intended for testing externally mounted equipment (e.g., antenna, exterior lights, air data probes, external sensors, and anti-ice/de-ice equipment), this test also measures the ability to withstand a direct lightning strike. Severity level will vary depending on location.

Section 25. Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). This requirement uses the same human body model specified by IEC/EN 61000-4-2, which consists of a 150 pF energy storage capacitor and a 330 Ω series resistor. Both direct and indirect discharges are specified for positive and negative polarities up to a level of 15 kV.

The severity levels for this testing can vary greatly, and the testing is significant even for the most simple of environments. The requirements for meeting this standard will be a function of where the component is installed in the aircraft, the length of the component’s power and I/O cabling and how that cabling may be routed. It is best to contact our staff directly to assist with a test plan to meet your specific goals.