DOD Mil-Std-810 509.4 Salt Fog

(Sorry about the salt fog GIF, but it’s soooo cheesy I had to use it.)

The Getac B300 the ideal choice for marine environments such as the Coast Guard, or on the deck of a ship, where salt air can affect equipment performance drastically.  Salt is one of the most corrosive chemicals commonly found, and can cause damage to the metal housings and electrical connection on all laptops – even ruggedized or Mil-Spec ones.

Salt Fog Test Procedure

Salt fog testing for military products generally follows procedures described in MIL-STD-810G 509.4 Salt Fog, with a vapor spray salt solution of 5% salt water introduced in a test chamber to create a salt fog environment. Testing usually includes 48 hours of exposure followed by another 48 hours of drying time. However, two successive cycles of 24-hour exposure / 24-hour drying is an even more challenging scenario for this particular test. Getac used the 24/24/24/24 test for the Getac B300.

To pass this test, the laptop needs to have excellent mechanical design, but also a high quality surface treatment for the magnesium alloy case parts.  Magnesium surface treatments include chemical conversion and painting. Getac’s magnesium factory created a chemical conversion treatment system that includes a special pre-treatment to clean and prep die-cast magnesium surfaces before the chemical conversion process is applied. Their chemical conversion treatment is not limited to plain phosphate, it also contains calcium phosphate, vanadate and other salts.

Mil-Std Paint Applied

After the Mg alloy is chemically converted, it is capable of passing the salt fog test unpainted.  For increased durability, and to make the unit look nice, a special mil-std paint is applied.

Mechanical Design

The standard Getac B300 passes IP65 waterproofing tests. This is a pretty severe test – but is not enough to pass salt fog tests.  Any salt water entering the unit is likely to cause corrosion; especially to the electrical circuitry.  Keyboard drainage, cable in/out structures and microstructures throughout the entire machine are required to prevent salt deposits caused by standing salt water. This effectively prevents structural damage from clogging or binding within the mechanical structure, and also helps avoid electrical malfunction due to corrosion.

Of course, if you have to use the laptop and connect it to power, or any other electrical connection – eg drone data port, 1553 bus, physical network connection, – you will need corrosion resistant connectors.  Pro Custom Group is Getac’s customization partner, and has produced multiple systems with mil-spec connectors.