Experimental verification and comparison of different tailoring models for spacecraft electronics thermal cycling tests

Abstract Thermal cycling tests (TCT) have been widely used for performance demonstration and reliability validation of the spacecraft electronics. The integrated tailoring model can provide customized testing conditions of TCT for different spacecraft electronics, which is different with the traditional unified tailoring model in MIL-STD-1540. Considering the influence of welding material, defect degrees and test levels, experimental verification had been done on solder samples. The evaluation indicators including test cost, simulation bias and simulation accuracy have been defined and compared between two different tailoring methods. The results show that for Sn/Pb solder samples, the testing effects of the two tailoring methods are the same. But for other materials solder samples, the integrated method can be used to achieve better environmental stress screening with lower cost than the traditional method. Such as the SAC solder, the simulation accuracy is increased by 0–10%, and the testing cost is decreased by 0–7%.