Document Library

Download FileA new UV-A light source for fluorescent testers improves correlations with actual outdoor testing - although at the expense of some test speed. Its increased accuracy should offset the time penalty for many applications, including both o...

Download FileQ. How many hours in a Q-Sun Xenon Test Chamber or a QUV Weathering Tester equals a year of outdoor exposure?This is a simple question, but unfortunately there is no simple answer. It is theoretically impossible to have a single "magic n...

Download FileSunlight, Weathering & Light Stability TestingSunlight is a major cause of damage to a number of materials, including plastics, textiles, coatings, and other organic materials. The type of damage, such as loss of physical properties,...

Outdoor testing is the only way to have full confidence that your product will be able to withstand the punishing forces of weathering - sunlight, heat, & moisture. While Florida and Arizona are international benchmark locations for natural weath...

Sunlight, moisture, and high temperatures are the primary forces which cause the deterioration known as “weathering.” The fast material degradation that occurs at our benchmark exposure sites in Florida and Arizona is a result of the synergistic effe...

Weathering causes millions of dollars of product damage every year. Damage includes color change, gloss loss, strength loss, cracking, peeling, chalking and oxidation. The main causes of weathering are sunlight (especially UV), high temperatures, and...

This paper provides an overview of extensive research conducted by the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) on the development of new test methods for exterior plastic building products. The purpose of the VSI study was to develop an accelerated testing pro ...

Automotive OEMs, coatings material suppliers, and weathering specialists banded together in a series of studies aimed at improving weathering test protocols. After a decade of research, the result is a newly published ASTM test standard, D7869, which...

Reciprocity is the notion that if you increase irradiance in a weathering test, you can decrease your exposure time by a reciprocal amount and still get the same results. Said another way, reciprocity states that the amount of degradation in a weathe...

A new and potentially revolutionary weathering standard has been published by ASTM International. Titled ‘Xenon Arc Exposure Test with Enhanced Light and Water Exposure for Transportation Coatings’, ASTM D7869 is the result of a decade of research by...