Reliability Analysis of Polymeric Materials

Polymeric materials are widely used in many applications and are especially useful when combined with other polymers to make polymer composites. The appealing features of these materials come from their having comparable levels of strength and endurance to what one would find in metal alloys while being more lightweight and economical. However, these materials are still susceptible to degradation over time and so it is of great importance to manufacturers to assess their product's lifetime. Because these materials are meant to last over a span of several years or even decades, accelerated testing is often the method of choice in assessing product lifetimes in a more feasible time frame. In this article, a brief introduction is given to the methods of accelerated testing and analysis used with polymer materials. Special attention is given to degradation testing and modeling due to the growing popularity of these techniques along with a brief discussion of fatigue testing. References are provided for further reading in each of these areas.