  Polymeric materials are widely used in many applications and are especially
useful when combined with other polymers to make polymer composites. The
appealing features of these materials come from their having comparable levels
of strength and endurance to what one would find in metal alloys while being
more lightweight and economical. However, these materials are still susceptible
to degradation over time and so it is of great importance to manufacturers to
assess their product's lifetime. Because these materials are meant to last over
a span of several years or even decades, accelerated testing is often the
method of choice in assessing product lifetimes in a more feasible time frame.
In this article, a brief introduction is given to the methods of accelerated
testing and analysis used with polymer materials. Special attention is given to
degradation testing and modeling due to the growing popularity of these
techniques along with a brief discussion of fatigue testing. References are
provided for further reading in each of these areas.
