What is accelerated weathering?
Accelerated weathering is the simulation of the damaging effects of long term exposure of coatings, materials, and products to outdoor conditions. There are a number of different types of outdoor conditions accelerated weathering addresses, including wind, rain, icing, sand and dust, and of course, UV exposure.
What is accelerated weathering test?
Accelerated weathering test methods simulate extreme weather conditions using special environmental chambers and instruments that speed up the weathering process. Environmental effects can cause a change in color, cracking, corrosion and deterioration of a product’s exterior and interior.
What is UV test?
Ultraviolet exposure (UV testing) is performed to understand how a material will withstand the damaging effects of ultraviolet exposure, which can cause significant changes to the properties and useful life of a material.
What is weathering testing?
A weathering test is a system for determining weathering characteristics of materials and coatings. Weathering testing is used to improve product durability and is also a tool for decision making. Such tests can be used to predict durability or to monitor changes in mechanical properties during weathering of materials.
What is a weatherometer?
(ˌwɛðəˈrɒmɪtə) n. an instrument for simulating weather conditions in order to determine weather-resistance.
What is Xenon testing?
Xenon arc testing promotes property changes of materials, including the effects of sunlight, moisture and heat, by simulating ultraviolet and visible solar radiations by means of a weatherometer.
Is used as light source in accelerating weathering?
The key parameter in all accelerated weathering apparatus is the UV light source, which should ideally simulate solar radiation (see ASTM G154).
How do you test for ultraviolet rays?
Ultraviolet light causes our skin to freckle, tan, or sunburn. A safer way to detect UV light is with a UV detector. Tell your students that they will use beads with a special pigment that changes color when exposed to UV light. These beads are called UV detectors.
How do you test for UV exposure?
By exposing a product to UV rays, a test instrument can simulate these exposure results. In the ASTM G154 test, fluorescent bulbs simulate sunlight exposure within a controlled test chamber. The ASTM G155 test is similar, but it utilizes xenon arc lamps to simulate full-spectrum sunlight weathering.
What is a weathering test and for which product is it applicable?
Accelerated weathering test is a type of weathering testing which is used to measure future possibilities of materials’ durability under certain environmental conditions. This testing technique is applied to measure future degradation or corrosion of materials.
What does xenon arc do?
Xenon arc is transforming the way materials producers engage with their SMB (“tail”) customers and segments. We specialize in building private label, direct-to-market teams on behalf of our clients, designed to deliver growth, simplicity and insights.
What is ASTM G155?
ASTM G155 is a practice for operating xenon arc light apparatus for exposure of non-metallic materials. This practice is the basis of all of the other standards for accelerated weathering using Xenon Arc UV light sources to simulate exposure to natural sunlight on an accelerated basis.
Why are porous materials more susceptible to acceleration?
For example, porous materials may experience a greater acceleration factor, as they are more susceptible to moisture intrusion than less porous materials. And because different types of materials react in diverse ways, no one cycle can be specified for every material.
What happens to polymer bonds in UV light?
Artificially generated UV light will destroy polymer bonds and discolor pigments the same as the sun; rain and dew then remove the degradation products, exposing fresh polymer and pigment.
What causes erroneous results in UVB testing?
Irradiance in the UVA range of wavelength is known for its degradation of polymers. Wavelengths in the UVB range, contrarily, can give erroneous results because the unnaturally short wavelength is found in small quantity naturally, and is non-existent in the winter months in some regions.
Why do you need to run an exposure test?
Exposure tests provide us with a means to expose a material under very specific, measurable parameters, and perhaps accelerate the exposure compared to real-time. Next, we need to touch on how to run an exposure test to answer our questions. Some exposure regimes incorporate multiple stressors into one cycle, which should be done with caution.