Estimating the reliability of electrical connectors

Some current approaches to estimating the reliability of electrical contacts and connectors are discussed. These approaches center on the statistical analysis of test data and address the active degradation mechanisms, the determination of appropriate environmental tests with corresponding acceleration factors and exposures, the statistical analysis appropriate for the test data, and the establishment of appropriate acceptance criteria. Each of these issues is treated separately. Multiposition connectors and Mil-Hdbk-217 are discussed. The authors deprecate reliability predictions based on generic databases and failure rate models, such as Mil-Hdbk-217, and describe instead what should constitute a reliability qualification program