Laboratory Weathering
To accelerate the weathering process and to learn more about the material behaviour under controlled environmental conditions in experiments filtered long arc xenon, fluorescent, metal halide lamps and carbon arc are used (artificial weathering). Each lamp types has benefits and disadvantages.
Xenon arc instruments simulate UV and visible solar radiation and are used by the textile, polymer, paint and automotive industries.
Fluorescent UV Devices are used in tests that vary light/ dark cycles, temperature, condensing humidity, water sprays and irradiance control. The tests are useful for relative rank comparisons between materials under specific conditions.
Metal Halide Systems are an accepted radiation source for “full-spectrum” solar simulation systems. There are two main applications as aging test and solar heat load tests.
The first one is used for components made from several materials and the second one for research and development of air-conditioning systems.
Carbon arc instruments are more intensive than the natural sunlight between 358 nm and 386 nm.
There are a lot of mistakes possible when conducting accelerated tests with artificial light sources. To ask the experts is necessary to bridge the gap between theory and the practicality of real-world testing.
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