DETERMINATION OF DEGRADATION KINETIC PARAMETERS AND FAILURE TIME ESTIMATION OF MAGNESIUM TEFLON® VITON® ELECTRONIC “FLARE” COUNTERMEASURES

Flare type countermeasures that use the composition designated as MTV (Magnesium, Teflon®, Viton®), are the most used by Air Forces around the world. In Brazil, these “flares” are used in several locations and are subjected to different handling, storage and operation conditions that can affect their performance and compromise their service life. In this work, the Monte Carlo method was applied to estimate an empirical model to predict the lifetime of these countermeasures, using as variables the temperature and the relative humidity of the place where the material is used. The results were analyzed using multiple linear regression and analysis of variance. The kinetic parameters of material thermal degradation, such as Activation Energy and Pre-exponential Factor, and the estimated failure times of these countermeasures were determined. The results pointed out to strong temperature influence on material degradation resulting in different lifetimes for each site studied.