Accelerated high-power ultrasonic testing of high-tech components and products

 

Companies involved in the production of high tech micro-electronic and micro-mechanic components and systems need a testing tool that can give very fast answers about product reliability. In accelerated testing one minute of testing can be equivalent to several weeks or months (or even years) of traditional tests. This is particularly interesting in the R&D phase of new products, where such accelerated testing possibilities can have an enormous impact on future profits by predicting in advance whether the product would resist years of future exploitation in the field. Instead of giving such products to specialized laboratories for testing (over weeks or months, while the R&D team waits for results), it will be possible to get critical answers many times during the same working day. This will permit important product and design improvements in the early stages of the project. Using the proposed new method of accelerated high power ultrasonic product testing will enormously accelerate new products development time, and enable the company to sell advanced, high tech, and fashionable products faster than their competition, with the confidence that such rapidly-developed products will resist years of heavy duty operation.

 

The spectrum of possible applications and test capabilities of the above mentioned ultrasonic equipment is:

 

  1. Accelerated 3-D shock and vibration tests. 3-D random and uniform (x, y, z), mechanical excitation.
  2. Ultrasonically accelerated mechanical and structural stability testing (of Watches, Micro-systems and High Tech components).
  3. Accelerated unscrewing bolts testing (Watch industry, Micro-Systems).
  4. Ultrasonically accelerated material aging and stress release on cold.
  5. Ultrasonically accelerated leakage and sealing test (in liquid environment).
  6. Accelerated testing in humid, corrosive and salted environment.

 

Applications: Hi-Tech, Watch-Industry, Microelectronics, Micromechanics, Military and Aerospace, Medical and chirurgical components and implants...

 

All of above mentioned tests and treatments could be realized in a specially designed ultrasonically vibrating chamber (a preliminary prototype is available for demonstration).

 

  1. The solid piece to be tested (aged, stress released…) is hanging in the middle of ultrasonic chamber. Small metal balls (introduced in the same chamber) are randomly scattering and bouncing inside of the chamber, realizing uniform 3-D bombardment of the hanging solid piece (watch case, micro-mechanical system, high-tech component…). About 1 minute of such treatment corresponds to more than a week of traditional 3-D vibrational and shocks testing.
  2. If ultrasonic chamber is filled with water (or some other liquid), leakage and sealing tests can be made (on watch cases, high-tech components, microsystems…). Also in very strong ultrasonic field in water, we can realize 3-D random vibrational testing, bolts unscrewing tests, stress release testing…

 

Demonstration of this special ultrasonic equipment is available on request - contact Miodrag Prokic.