Materials Considerations in Service Life Prediction

Abstract

To address the issues of aging of energy production and distribution systems, and those associated with durability and reliability of new systems, improvements in the methods for service life prediction are needed to adequately account for the contributions of material and environmental variables. A mechanistically based probability approach is proposed. The efficacy of this approach and the importance of materials considerations are discussed. Support of research, utilizing this approach to address specific failure mechanisms, is recommended.