The Applied Technical Services Family of Companies’ (ATS FoC’s) highly accelerated life testing (HALT) testing lab helps help manufacturers identify design vulnerabilities, manufacturing deficiencies, and reliability risks before product deployment. Our laboratories conduct controlled thermal and vibration stress tests to evaluate product performance beyond standard conditions and determine operational limits. We offer thermal step stress, rapid thermal cycling, vibration step stress, and combined environmental stress evaluations. Our engineers assess each test article, define stress parameters, monitor functionality during testing, and document all failures in detailed technical reports.
When Should Manufacturers Request HALT Testing?
Manufacturers should request HALT testing during key stages of product development, including prototype creation and pre-production milestones. Testing at these points identifies design weaknesses, improves reliability margins, and evaluates products before full-scale production. Early HALT testing enables engineering teams to address vulnerabilities while design changes are still feasible and cost-effective.
HALT testing supports a range of development stages and test articles, including:
- Components: Circuit boards, sensors, connectors, power supplies, and other critical components
- Assemblies and subsystems: Modules, wiring harnesses, enclosures, and integrated systems
- Finished products: Complete units and production representative assemblies
About Our HALT Testing Labs
Our technical specialists design HALT programs tailored to each product’s operating environment, design features, and reliability goals. We determine stress levels by evaluating product specifications, intended use, and known failure modes. Our team reviews industry standards, consults with manufacturers on operational limits, and considers past reliability data to set test parameters. Testing protocols gradually increase environmental stress in a controlled manner until the product reaches a functional limit or fails. Our HALT capabilities include:
- Hot and cold thermal step stress
- Rapid thermal cycling
- Thermal shock testing
- Vibration step stress
- Combined thermal and vibration stress
- Functional monitoring during environmental stress
- Custom test fixture development
- Failure documentation and photographic reporting
We provide HALT testing for products in aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, power generation, electronics, and consumer applications.
What Is the Difference Between HALT and HASS Testing?
HALT and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) serve different roles in a comprehensive product reliability program. HALT is used during development to improve design by applying increasing thermal and vibration stresses, identifying weaknesses, and establishing operational and destruction limits.
HASS is used during production screening after the product design has demonstrated adequate reliability. Manufacturers use HASS to detect manufacturing defects and latent weaknesses without affecting the service life of compliant products. While HALT refines product design, HASS identifies and addresses production-related defects. We also provide HASS services.
Request HALT Testing Services
Contact us at +1 (888) 287-5227 or complete our online request form with details about your product, operating environment, testing objectives, and project timeline. Our technical team will collaborate with you to develop a HALT program that meets your reliability requirements and delivers actionable results.
