Macrofab Engineering Podcast

This week Parker and Stephen welcome James Lewis back to the show after a rather long absence! The occasion stems from James chiming in on a Circuit Break Community thread that Stephen started, asking all about component aging effects. Stephen posed questions like, “What happens to resistors over 5 years? How about 20 years? Are there rules of thumb or better yet, calculations for aging?” And helpful engineer that he is, James got in there and tried to provide some answers before agreeing to appear on the show to elaborate. Other topics covered here include: How no one is completely sure about how to approach component aging When component aging actually affects designers The difference between aging and reliability The impact of components lasting longer than they were meant to Variables, parameters, and other factors that can inhibit and exacerbate aging Levels of violence in polymer tantalum explosions The history of constants Device longevity laws How to define rated voltage for a capacitor +more! About o