HALT Testing: Highly Accelerated Life Testing

Product reliability is essential to success in today's competitive global market. Highly accelerated life testing (HALT) is an intensive method used to expose design and process weaknesses, allowing you to improve them prior to product launch. Because of its accelerated nature, HALT testing is faster, less expensive, and more accurate than traditional testing techniques. HALT is a proven process used to lower product development and manufacturing costs, compress time to market, reduce warranty costs, improve customer satisfaction, gain market share, and increase profits.

Companies have reported savings in the millions after using HALT. The test can accelerate a product's aging process from actual months into test minutes, much faster than traditional testing. HALT testing is designed to help you discover weaknesses in your product during the design stage. Combined vibration, temperature and electrical stress variables are typically used during a HALT. During the test, stress levels are increased rapidly to induce failures and uncover fault points. Additional stresses such as internal fluid pressure can also applied to simulate extreme real world use. By using many different loads and combinations of loads, we can precipitate failures in our test chambers uncovering design or manufacturing process flaws before they reach your customer.

HALT is a qualitative test—the goal is to expose design weaknesses. The HALT will not demonstrate a service life or a mean time between failures (MTBF). Other reliability methods may be a better fit to predict an MTBF or service life. Once a weakness is exposed by the test design or engineering solutions can be found to remedy the flaw.

We have a variety of test equipment and chambers for use with a range of products. While HALT testing was originally conceived for the aerospace industry, we now perform the test on a wide range of aerospace, commercial, medical, and military products.

DES has Multiple HALT Chambers that Can Apply:

  • Temperatures ranging from -100°C to +200°C (-148°F to +392°F).
  • Temperatures that can be raised or lowered up to 60°C (140°F) per minute.
  • Vibration input levels up to 60 Grms and with six degrees of freedom.
  • Additional loads, such as electrical, fluid pressure, and more, that can be applied simultaneously with temperature and vibration stresses.

HALT/HASS test methods

HALT Testing of Circuit Boards

Why Choose DES for HALT Testing?

  • We have a high level of expertise in HALT/HASS methods.
  • We have performed extensive HALT testing on many types of products.
  • We have experience performing HALT from the circuit board level to the complex system level.
  • We can advise you on the appropriate HALT process for your product.
  • We have a wide range existing fixtures that we use at no charge our customers.
  • We are also experts at designing and fabricating custom fixtures for complex tests.

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Quick Facts About HALT Testing

  • The purpose of HALT testing is to find weaknesses in products. By applying stresses to a product, we can determine an item’s destruct limit, and give you the information you need to make your product more durable.
  • During HALT testing, the stresses are increased until the product fails.
  • The testing process usually takes about 3-5 days.
  • Our HALT testing procedure is divided into 5 stages: temperature step stresses, temperature ramps, vibration step stresses, combined temperature/vibration stresses, and temperature destruct limits. Click here to read more about our process.

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