Crystals have no inherent failure mechanisms; some have operated in devices for decades. Failures may be, however, introduced by faults in bonding, leaky enclosures, corrosion, frequency shift by aging, breaking the crystal by too high mechanical shock, or radiation-induced damage when non-swept quartz is used.Quartz crystal resonators and oscillators for frequency control and timing applications: a tutorial by John R. Vig, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Crystals can be also damaged by overdriving.
Crystals have no inherent failure mechanisms; some have operated in devices for decades. Failures may be, however, introduced by faults in bonding, leaky enclosures, corrosion, frequency shift by aging, breaking the crystal by too high mechanical shock, or radiation-induced damage when non-swept quartz is use,d.Quartz crystal resonators and oscillators for frequency control and timing applications: a tutorial by John R. Vig U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Crystals can be also damaged by overdriving.