IEC 60068-2-27:2008 provides a standard procedure for determining the ability of a specimen to withstand specified severities of non-repetitive or repetitive shocks. The purpose of this test is to reveal mechanical weakness and/or degradation in specified performances, or accumulated damage or degradation caused by shocks. In conjunction with the relevant specification, this may be used in some cases to determine the structural integrity of specimens or as a means of quality control. This test is primarily intended for unpackaged specimens and for items in their transport case when the latter may be considered to be part of the specimen. If an item is to be tested unpackaged, it is referred to as a test specimen. However, if the item is packaged, then the item itself is referred to as a product and the item and its packaging together are referred to as a test specimen. When used in conjunction with IEC 60068-2-47, this standard may be used for testing packaged products. This possibility was included in the 2005 version of IEC 60068-2-47 for the first time. This standard is written in terms of prescribed pulse shapes. Guidance for the selection and application of these pulses is given in Annex A and the characteristics of the different pulse shapes are discussed in Annex B. Wherever possible, the test severity and the shape of the shock pulse applied to the specimen should be such as to reproduce the effects of the actual transport or operational environment to which the specimen will be subjected, or to satisfy the design requirements if the object of the test is to assess structural integrity (see Clauses A.2 and A.4). For the purposes of this test, the specimen is always mounted to the fixture or the table of the shock testing machine during testing. The major changes with regard to the previous edition concern:
- the merging of IEC 60068-2-29 into this edition of IEC 60068-2-27; Part 2-29 will be withdrawn as soon as this edition is published;
- the introduction of soft packaged specimens as defined in the IEC ad hoc working group document agreed in Stockholm:2000.