Rapid Thermal-Cycle Life Testing of Thin Films

An automated heating/cooling laboratory apparatus enables the accelerated thermal-cycle life testing of thin-film samples and other small material samples. In the original application for which the apparatus was constructed, the thin-film samples are candidates for use as components of thermal-insulation blankets, and there is a requirement to subject the samples to at least 20,000 thermal cycles between the temperatures of +50 and - 100 °C. Without the pres-ent apparatus, it would be necessary to test the samples in an environmental chamber that takes about 30 minutes to complete a thermal cycle and would therefore take more than a year to complete 20,000 cycles. In contrast, the present apparatus operates with a thermal-cycle time of 15 to 20 seconds, making it possible to complete the 20,000 cycles in less than five days.