Qualification testing of automotive terminals for high reliability applications

The increasing sophistication of automotive electronic systems has presented some unique challenges to both the connector designer and the materials engineer. The automotive environment is abusive, yet reliability must be maintained over extended periods of time. For example, the life of safety related components must exceed the life of the vehicle. Automotive components are subjected to random vibration, thermal excursions, corrosive gasses, humidity and increasingly prolonged exposures to elevated temperatures. To determine the reliability of a connector design, comprehensive test specifications have evolved. A typical battery of tests includes, random vibration, temperature cycling with humidity, exposure to mixed flowing gas and thermal aging. This study examines the effect of contact finish on the performance of an automotive terminal. The contact finish was varied to explore cost reduction opportunities. The terminals were subjected to low cycle durability testing, temperature cycling with humidity, random vibration, and Battelle flowing mixed gas environments. System stability was evaluated in terms of low level circuit resistance changes. Test results are presented and the data indicate different responses depending on the contact finish properties. It was found that the performance of a thin, multi-layer clad inlay contact material met all test requirements and offered the lowest total system cost