AUGUST 2026 NEWSLETTER

Applications of AI in Reliability (Fall 2026 Graduate Course)

This University of Maryland course brings together the disciplines of machine learning, reliability, and prognostics. It is taught by Prof. Michael Pecht, Dr. Michael Azarian, and Prof. Jay Lee. You can register now for this course to take it online or in person.

This is an interdisciplinary course, and students in many areas, including aerospace, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, as well as engineering management, are welcome. Students will have the opportunity to learn the basic scientific foundations of PHM and to work on its implementation in real-life applications through projects. In addition to the faculty, experts from industry, government, and academia will give guest lectures in this course.

CALCE Reliability Science for Electronics Symposium - Fall 2026

On October 14, 2026, the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering will hold its Reliability Science for Electronics Symposium. This meeting will be held in the Kay Boardroom at the Kim Engineering Building. A Zoom option will be available for those who cannot attend in person. The meeting will include an overview of CALCE research activities with several research project presentations. The meeting is free and open to CALCE members and invited guests.

Registration is now Open.

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Webinar: Information Management for Long-Term Storage of Electronic Assembly

Printed circuit boards (PCBs), subassemblies, and final assembled products are often stored for long-term. While significant work has been performed and various standards are available for the storage of electronic components, the scope of covering hardware storage beyond the component level remains a matter of individual company decision-making. As a result, organizations are often limited by personal experiences, and companies continue to repeat the same mistakes across the industry. For successful, cost-effective storage of printed circuit board assemblies, there is a need for information collection and management to support storage planning and execution. …

Registration will open soon.

Dr. Diganta Das

Thursday, September 17, 2026

11:00 am to 12:00 pm US Eastern Time

Failure Analysis of Electronics Short Course

An intensive 4-day course on Failure Analysis of Electronics is being offered by CALCE. The course consists of classroom instruction, demonstrations, and hands-on laboratory training. The course will cover analysis techniques applicable to electronic assemblies, components, and devices. Lecture topics include physics-of-failure root cause analysis, guidelines for selecting analytical tools, and practical instruction in laboratory techniques. The laboratory portion of the course includes demonstrations and step-by-step, hands-on sample preparation using metallographic techniques on the latest failure-analysis equipment. In addition, a number of critical non-destructive and destructive analysis techniques will be demonstrated.

November 17 - November 20, 2026

CALCE/SMTA Counterfeit Parts and Materials Symposium 2027  - Save the Date - June 22-24

The Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials is organized in collaboration with SMTA. The symposium aims to raise awareness of the risks and consequences of counterfeit materials and parts, while promoting strategies and best practices for their identification, prevention, and mitigation. It will be held at the College Park Marriott.

We have opened the call for abstracts and hotel information for early preparation. Contact Dr. Diganta Das for more information.

Derating Approach for Lithium-Ion Batteries

While lithium-ion batteries are rated for specific operational and storage limits, their performance degrades over time, even when operated within these rated conditions. To meet the target lifetime requirements, designers operate and store batteries at derated capacity, voltage, current, and temperature. Although derating strategies and battery life-extension models have been reported in the literature, they do not specify what degradation data are required or how the datasheet-rated limits can be converted into quantitative derating margins. …

Using Additive Manufacturing to Transition Away from OEM-Repaired Failures: A Protection-Level Preservation Constrained Life-Cycle Cost Model

Additive manufacturing (AM) provides many potential benefits when compared to conventional manufacturing (CM) for critical systems, including shorter lead times. It is important to quantify the value of the possible time savings associated with AM and to consider this benefit along with the additional capital, material, and labor costs associated with AM when supporting a fleet of critical systems. While existing works primarily focus on either the time-savings impact on inventory or the manufacturing costs of AM, this paper combines both effects into a comprehensive analysis. …

A Fusion-Based SOH Estimation for Lithium-ion Batteries with SHAP-Guided Feature Extraction and Generative Data Augmentation

Accurate state of health (SOH) estimation of lithium-ion battery is crucial for ensuring the safety and reliability of battery systems. Existing data-driven SOH estimation methods suffer from a heavy reliance on manual feature extraction, which often fails to effectively capture complex battery degradation characteristics and capacity regeneration phenomena, particularly in small-sample scenarios. This limitation consequently restricts the adaptability and generalization capability of these methods. …

Warpage Prediction After Compression Molding Using Cure-dependent Viscoelastic Properties

Unlike the transfer molding process, the mold temperature, pressure and time as well as the post-mold curing temperature and time can be process-parameters for the compression molding process simply because the transfer of an epoxy-based molding compound (EMC) through tiny channels does not have to occur. Accurate prediction capability is demanded to identify an optimum process condition. …