As this is the first in a planned series of articles by APEX Electrical Interconnection Consultants LLC, we thought it would be best to begin with the “Levels of Interconnection” (LOI), which is about as fundamental as it gets. It must be remembered that at every interconnection point, at every level, there is a potentialRead More

Dr. Bob on Hertz Stress as a Connector Design Parameter I was looking for some information in my files a few weeks ago, when I came across a folder entitled “Hertz Stress.” My mind leapt back 20 years as I recalled discussions that the concept had raised at that time. Using Hertz stress as aRead More

To Fail or Not to Fail, That is the Question – Act II Dr. Bob reviewed the issue of failure criteria in the previous issue of ConnectorSupplier.com. He said that two different types of failures have to be addressed: catastrophic and systematic. He attached definition to both, noting that catastrophic failure results from quality issuesRead More

More on Supplementary Testing – Now, what else do I want to do? In the prior articles of this series, the test groups described were for the determination or susceptibility of connectors to basic failure mechanisms: Vibration/Shock—Fretting Corrosion Discontinuity or Nanosecond Events Mechanical Integrity Humidity/Thermal Cycling—Fretting Corrosion Wet Oxidation Process Degradation of Plastic Housing MixedRead More