Cyclic stress accelerated life test method for mechatronic products

Abstract The reliability requirements for mechatronics continue to increase. Traditional life test methods make it difficult to obtain the data required to assess or predict the reliability of these mechatronic products within a reasonable time. Accelerated life tests can speed up the failure process of the product by using accelerated stress conditions. And then test data is obtained to predict the reliable life of the product under normal service conditions through modeling and analysis. The test efficiency of the accelerated life tests is higher than that of the life test. So, the method of accelerated life tests has become a solution for life and reliability prediction of highly reliable and long‐life mechatronic products. However, mechatronic products usually undergo cyclic stress during service. The use of cyclic stress as an accelerating stress in accelerated life tests can provide a realistic representation of service conditions and achieve higher test efficiency. Cyclic stress accelerated life test is an accurate and efficient solution for predicting the life and reliability of such mechatronic products. Current relative research is focused on constant stress, step stress and sequential stress accelerated life tests. A great challenge in engineering is modeling and analysis of cyclic stresses accelerated life tests. In this paper, we first describe the cyclic stress accelerated life test profile and its key parameters, then propose model assumptions and establish a modelling and analysis method for cyclic stress accelerated life test data, followed by an illustrative example to apply and validate the proposed method. The research results can provide technical support for the life and reliability assessment of mechatronic products under cyclic stress service conditions.