Thermal Aging Predictions from an Arrhenus Plot with Only One Data Point

Abstract

Arrhenius plots are useful in predicting long-term use temperatures of organic materials and in choosing parameters for accelerated aging. For materials and components without established Arrhenius curves, a conservative value for the slope of the curve (which is also a measure of the activation energy of degradation) would allow longer-term predictions from a few short-term tests. Conversely, a required long-term temperature target can be extrapolated on the same slope to a range of short-time exposure temperatures suitable for accelerated tests. A review is made of available activation energies, from which values can be selected for conservative extrapolations on an Arrhenius plot.