MIL-STD-810 Test Method 516.6 – Shock
Quick look:
- Tests how a unit stands up to shock
- Looks for distortion and damage
- Includes eight procedures, including operational shock, safety and transit drop
About MIL-STD-810 Method 516
Method 516 consists of eight different shock tests that you can specify in this particular method. The purpose of applying a shock pulse to a piece of equipment is to identify any type of damage, like distortion, damage to solder joints and electrical circuits, fractured material, or connection failures.
In vetronics and avionics, we’re most interested in procedures one, which is operational shock, and five, which is crash safety. These shock values range from 20Gs to 40Gs, but can go as high as 75Gs. The duration for these shock pulses are usually 10-23 milliseconds long.
The longer the duration and higher the pulse of a shock, the more damage you can incur. So a 40G shock pulse that lasts 20 milliseconds is more damaging than a 20G shock pulse for 10 milliseconds. Shock tests are generally done on a vibration table, though some testing can be done by hammer blow or barge test, but that’s captured in MIL-S-901.
In this industry, we normally do a half-sine or sawtooth shock pulse wave. These pulses are applied two times per axis and then in each direction for a total of 18 different shock pulses.
At Crystal Group, we do a worst-case scenario and run the operational shock test at 40 Gs to make sure we have a robust product.