Hi Yehuda,
Your e-mail does not specify what damagae mechanism and failure mode you
would like to test for.
Essentally, there are two critical loading conditions: (A) temperature
cycling induced fatigue due to thermal expansion mismatches, (B) breakdown in
electrical insulation by temperature and/or humidity-driven breakdowns.
For (A) there are various damage mechanisms and failure modes:
(1)     z-tensile stresses in copper barrel and bending moments at shoulder
 (a) fractures in the PTH copper barrel, typ. at prepreg layer near PCB
center;
 (b) land rotation w/-w/o fractures at shoulder,
   (i)  within the copper foil layer,
   (ii) at copper foil/electroless copper flash interface;
(2)     x-/y-radial compressive stresses in copper barrel, tensile stresses near
internal lands
 (c) separations of copper barrel from internally attached lands,
   (i)   within the copper foil,
   (ii)  at copper foil layer/electroless copper flash interface,
   (iii) at electroless copper flash/electrolytically plated copper interface

 (d) separations between the PTH copper barrel and the epoxy of the
surrounding dielectric layers.
The most frequent of these is (a) and acceleration relationships have been
established (see IPC-D-279, Design Guidelines for Reliable Surface Mount
Technology Printed Board Assemblies, Appendix B, or workshop "Design,
Manufacturing and Reliability Issues of Small-Diameter/High-Aspect-Ratio
Plated-Through-Holes and Vias" the IPCWorks'97 on October 5). For the other
failure modes acceleration transforms have not been established, but
conclusions as to reliability can be drawn from past experience.
Accelerated testing can be done by thermal cycling of suitable test coupons
for any of these damage mechanisms. A new test method, IST, allows faster
acceleration, but has not been as yet quantitatively correlated to life.
For (B) there are various damage mechanisms and failure modes also:
(1)     breaksown in surface insulation resistance (SIR), depending on surface
strujcture and/or contamination
(2)     bulk insulation breakdown
 (a) along glass fibers from one PTH to another;
 (b)within polymer, PTH-to-PTH or to surface.
Some infomation can be obtained from IPC-D-279, Design Guidelines for
Reliable Surface Mount Technology Printed Board Assemblies, Appendix C, but
the multitude of interacting mechanisms and the possibility of threshold
conditions, make long-term reliability predictions essentially impossible.
'Design for Reliabilty' procedures to achieve robust designs are possible,
however.

Werner Engelmaier
Engelmaier Associates, Inc.
Electronic Packaging, Interconnection and Reliability Consulting
23 Gunther Street
Mendham, NJ  07945  USA
Phone & Fax: 973-543-2747
E-mail: [log in to unmask]