Environmental stressors are external conditions that accelerate material degradation and component failure. These include humidity, dust contamination, ultraviolet radiation, temperature extremes, and chemical exposure.
Although these factors are not failures themselves, they often trigger or accelerate underlying failure mechanisms in mechanical systems, electronics, and materials.
Understanding environmental stress helps explain why products fail faster in certain conditions and which components are most vulnerable to environmental damage.
The articles in this section describe the major environmental conditions that affect product reliability and material durability.
