IEC 60068-1:2013

Environmental testing - Part 1: General and guidance

IEC 60068-1:2013 includes a series of methods for environmental testing along with their appropriate severities, and prescribes various atmospheric conditions for measurements and tests designed to assess the ability of specimens to perform under expected conditions of transportation, storage and all aspects of operational use. Although primarily intended for electrotechnical products, this standard is not restricted to them and may be used in other fields where desired. Other methods of environmental testing, specific to the individual types of specimen, may be included in the relevant specifications. The framework of environmental test tailoring process is given in order to assist the production of test specifications with appropriate tests and test severities. This seventh edition cancels and replaces the sixth edition, published in 1988, and constitutes a technical revision. The main changes with respect to the previous edition are listed below:
- updated normative reference list;
- indication of normative and informative annexes;
- new informative Annex C, Environmental test tailoring.

Essais d'environnement - Partie 1: Généralités et lignes directrices

La CEI 60068-1:2013 comporte une série de méthodes d'essais d'environnement et leurs sévérités appropriées et spécifie différentes conditions atmosphériques pour les mesures et les essais, conçues pour garantir l'aptitude de spécimens à être utilisés dans des conditions prévisibles de transport, de stockage et d'utilisation opérationnelle sous toutes ses formes. Bien qu'elle soit destinée en premier lieu à des produits électrotechniques, la présente norme ne s'applique pas uniquement à ceux-ci et peut être utilisée dans d'autres domaines, si on le désire. D'autres méthodes d'essais d'environnement, spécifiques à des types particuliers de spécimens, peuvent être incluses dans la spécification particulière correspondante. Le cadre du processus d'adaptation des essais d'environnement est donné afin d'aider à l'établissement de spécifications d'essai proposant des essais et des sévérités appropriés. Cette septième édition annule et remplace la sixième édition, publiée en 1988, et constitue une révision technique. Cette édition inclut les modifications techniques majeures suivantes par rapport à l'édition précédente:
- une liste de références normatives mise à jour;
- une indication des annexes normatives et informatives;
- Une nouvelle Annexe informative - Annexe C: "Adaptation des essais d'environnement".

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 06-Oct-2013
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 19.040 - Environmental testing
• Technical Committee: TC 104 - Environmental conditions, classification and methods of test
• Drafting Committee: MT 16 - TC 104/MT 16
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 15-Oct-2013
• Completion Date: 07-Oct-2013

Relations

• Revises: IEC 60068-1:1988 - Environmental testing. Part 1: General and guidance
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC 60068-1 ®
Edition 7.0 2013-10
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Environmental testing –
Part 1: General and guidance
Essais d’environnement –
Partie 1: Généralités et lignes directrices

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IEC 60068-1 ®
Edition 7.0 2013-10
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Environmental testing –
Part 1: General and guidance
Essais d’environnement –
Partie 1: Généralités et lignes directrices

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX V
ICS 19.040 ISBN 978-2-8322-1110-6

– 2 – 60068-1 © IEC:2013
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 Standard atmospheric conditions . 11
4.1 Standard reference atmosphere . 11
4.2 Standard atmospheres for referee measurements and tests . 12
4.3 Standard atmospheric conditions for measurements and tests . 12
4.4 Recovery conditions . 13
4.4.1 General . 13
4.4.2 Controlled recovery conditions . 13
4.4.3 Recovery procedure . 14
4.5 Standard conditions for assisted drying . 14
5 Use of test methods . 14
6 Climatic sequence . 14
7 Component climatic category . 15
8 Application of tests . 15
9 Significance of the numerical value of a quantity . 15
9.1 General . 15
9.2 Quantity expressed as nominal value with tolerance . 15
9.3 Quantity expressed as a range of values . 16
Annex A (normative) Component climatic category . 18
Annex B (informative) General guidance . 19
Annex C (informative) Environmental test tailoring . 25
Bibliography . 31

Figure C.1 – Environmental test tailoring process . 26

Table 1 – Standard atmospheres for referee measurements and tests . 12
Table 2 – Standard atmospheres for measurements and tests . 13
Table 3 – Standard conditions for assisted drying . 14
Table B.1 – Choice of tests as a function of objectives and applications . 21
Table B.2 – General sequence of tests . 23
Table B.3 – Principal effects of single environmental parameters . 24
Table C.1 – Test tailoring process with information flow and the corresponding
activities . 27

60068-1 © IEC:2013 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING –
Part 1: General and guidance
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
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Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
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2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
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9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60068-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 104:
Environmental conditions, classification and methods of test.
This seventh edition cancels and replaces the sixth edition, published in 1988, and constitutes
a technical revision.
The main changes with respect to the previous edition are listed below:
– updated normative reference list;
– indication of normative and informative annexes;
– new informative Annex C, Environmental test tailoring.

– 4 – 60068-1 © IEC:2013
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
104/618/FDIS 104/627/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all the parts in the IEC 60068 series, published under the general title Environmental
testing, can be found on the IEC website.
This standard should be used in conjunction with the relevant specification which will define
the tests to be used, the required degree of severity for each of them, their order (if relevant),
and the permissible performance limits.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
60068-1 © IEC:2013 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
The IEC 60068 series contains fundamental information on environmental testing procedures
an
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