Temperature extremes, temperature cycling and humidity can lead to premature failure, unreliable operation and may propagate and/or compound consequential failures, if not adequately addressed at the design stage.

TRaC's UKAS accredited test laboratories can replicate man-made and natural climates to support qualification testing for demonstrating compliance against a broad range of climatic test specifications and environmental conditions.

High and low temperature testing

Temperature testingHigh and low extremes of temperature can significantly alter the mechanical and electrical properties of a product, such as the brittleness of components, viscosity of lubricants, electrical conductivity and oscillator frequencies. TRaC's temperature testing can simulate temperature extremes  cycling from -70°C to +180°C (and up to +500°C constant), and TRaC's 15 temperature chambers cater for small components in our series of 0.4 m3 cabinets through to complete systems, in our range of walk-in chambers.

Cyclic temperature testing

Diurnal or cyclic temperature testing is the process of cycling through temperature extremes and can be used as an environmental stress test to evaluate products reliability and to identify latent defects by inducing failure through thermal fatigue. Temperature cycling induces stresses due to the differing expansion / contraction rates of materials and can be a particularly hostile environment for electronics and precision moving parts or may cause blistering or cracking of surface finishes which may lead to subsequent corrosion failures. Temperature cycling tests at TRaC can be conducted under passive or active conditions, with continuous monitoring to identify intermittent faults. For extreme thermal shock conditions, TRaC operates a dedicated thermal shock facility, in addition to the manual transfer solution, depending on the product size.

Combined humidity and temperature testing

The combination of variable humidity and temperature are a particular concern for the design of electronics, where moisture build up may lead to short circuiting and product failure. Similarly, high and low humidity can effect electrical characteristics such as increased conductivity at higher humidity or electrostatic discharges at lower humidity. The TRaC range of temperature and humidity test chambers start from 0.4 m3 increasing to walk-in chamber, and can simulate environments of 10% to 98% relative humidity.

In addition to conventional temperature / humidity testing, TRaC can also provide a combination of temperature and altitude, temperature and vibration, or dual temperature (e.g. input fluids conditioned at a different temperature to the  unit under test) providing the most comprehensive climatic test solution in the UK.

TRaC are UKAS accredited  to a wide range of industry standards for temperature and humidity testing which include:

  • DEF STAN  00-35
  • DEF STAN 07-55
  • BS EN 60068
  • BS 3G100
  • MIL STD 810
  • RTCA DO 160
  • ETSI 300
  • EN50155

Temperature and Humidity Test Capabilities

TRaC have a variety of temperature and humidity chambers from small to walk-in chambers that can reproduce a wide range of climatic conditions incluiding  high and low temperature as well as combined temperature and humidity conditions. TRaC also support a climatic test facility dedicated to tests against requirements for telecoms and radio products.