Physics and chemistry of aging – early developments

The aging phenomena are very complex physical and chemical processes. The author attempts to qualitatively discuss various physical processes contributing to aging. A satisfactory quantitative explanation is not presently available. In this sense, little progress has been made since the 1986 LBL Aging Workshop. However, what was accomplished during the past decade is a heightened awareness from the research and management sides to pay more attention to this problem, and as a result a number of aging tests have increased in quantity and quality. These efforts will undoubtedly yield some new results in the future. Examples in this paper are mainly from a “pre-LHC and pre-HERA-B era of aging,” where the total charge doses are limited to much less than 1 C/cm.