electronics for military applications are expected to operate first-time, every time in some of the most hostile and demanding environments. military programs are often designed to run over several decades, with hardware likely to be updated several times over the program's duration.

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similarly, most aerospace electronics will be compromised by harsh operating environments; significant amounts of vibration, often extreme variations in operating temperature, as well as the risks of exposure to chemicals, de-icing fluids and the like, will all take their toll unless adequately protected.

commercial and military aerospace applications, too, will typically have multi-decade programme lifetimes and the hardware will usually be upgraded several times during its service life. long term protection of military and aerospace electronics is thus important. 

electrolube is an iso 14001 accredited, uk based company that has been manufacturing high-specification, formulated chemical products for electronics manufacturers since 1941. serving a plethora of industries including the aerospace, military, marine, automotive and telecoms industries, electrolube provides both bespoke and ‘off-the-shelf’ products, including thermal management formulations, conformal coatings, encapsulation resins, contact lubricants and aqueous and solvent-based cleaning materials, as well as more general maintenance and service aids.

electrolube has extensive experience of working within these sectors, its relevant systems and product formulations being fully compliant with industry standards, including mil-std 810 (environmental) and mil- 1-46058-c, now superseded by ipc-cc-830b, iec-61086 and ul746 (conformal coating).

electrolube’s primary and secondary conformal coating protection systems, include products based on acrylic, urethane, silicone, epoxy and parylene formulations, offering features that give enhanced protection against certain specified environmental conditions (high humidity, condensation risk, high operating temperatures, etc.), which meet appropriate standards such as us mil-1-46058c, ul746, british ministry of defence def-stan 59/47 issue 4 and ul746cqmju2.

however, it's not just about extending the lifetime of electronic systems in storage or in duty, but addressing all concerns regarding their reliability and performance; thermal management is key to achieving this. the development of aerospace and defense electronic systems is driving significant increases in power densities, with the result that thermal management has become a significant challenge for suppliers of hardware to this sector.

read the rest of this article at http://www.electrolube.com/technical-articles/thermal-management-solutions-for-long-term-protection-of-military-and-aerospace-electronics.