Dave,
You do not really disagree with me when I said in a general technical sense:
"Unfortunately, there is no 'acceptable number of cycles' either in
air-to-air and one liquid-liquid thermocycling nor IST". While customers
"specify a minimum number of cycles", this may be based on specific
identified needs or "on customer bias"--however, 'the customer is always
right'. This does NOT, however, translate into some generally applicable
'acceptable number of cycles' or specification for any test. 
Cycling to failure is always preferred, since only that provides adequate
information for reliability estimation. 

Werner Engelmaier
Engelmaier Associates, Inc.
Electronic Packaging, Interconnection and Reliability Consulting
23 Gunther Street
Mendham, NJ  07945  USA
Phone & Fax: 201-543-2747
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]

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