There are two fundamental types of weathering testing: natural outdoor testing, and accelerated laboratory testing. These two test types are complementary and, performed together, make up a complete weathering test program. Q-Lab can help you determine the best comprehensive test plan for your products and materials.

Natural Outdoor Testing 

Natural outdoor testing at our benchmark test locations in Florida and Arizona is the best way to establish the outdoor durability of your products. Florida and Arizona are internationally-recognized benchmark locations for outdoor exposure testing. Florida subtropical weathering exposures are not only realistic, they are also accelerated. South Florida exposures deliver high-intensity sunlight, high annual ultraviolet (UV) light, high temperatures year-round, abundant rainfall, and very high humidity. Arizona features even higher-intensity sunlight, hotter temperatures, and dry, desert conditions. For an overview of natural outdoor testing, see our webinar Natural Outdoor Weathering Testing.

The synergistic effect of UV, moisture, and heat makes Florida the ideal location for testing durability of materials in outdoor environments. Arizona’s high levels of sunshine and heat make it the ideal location for testing highly durable materials that may not fail elsewhere. Natural outdoor weathering is the most accurate way to understand the durability of materials outdoors and is the cornerstone of any comprehensive weathering testing program. We recommend that all manufacturers of products used outdoors should:

*Test at benchmark sites, since harsh environments accelerate degradation for low cost

*Start new outdoor tests every year (or more frequently) to develop a library of data and compare new formulations to old products and competitors’ materials

*Qualify and validate accelerated lab testing with outdoor data – “test the test”

*Accelerated Laboratory Testing

Although natural outdoor testing is the most true and accurate way to conduct weathering test exposures, testing can take a long time – 5, 10, even 20 or more years for highly-durable materials. Accelerated laboratory weathering testing can help with this. By accelerating the forces of weathering in a controlled lab environment, you can get faster results about product durability. Accelerated weathering testing is fast, repeatable, and convenient, and is great for quality control, qualification, and research & development. It is a “tool for directional decision-making,” to help better determine:

*What ingredients to include or not include in a product

*Whether a lot or batch is OK to ship to customers

*What vendors to buy from

*Which processing and manufacturing parameters should be selected

There are two primary types of accelerated weathering testing, which offer complementary benefits as described in QUV and Q-SUN: A Comparison. For a summary of the forces of weathering and these two test architectures, see our webinar Essentials of Laboratory Weathering.

One is fluorescent UV weathering testing using the QUV Accelerated Weathering Tester. To simulate

The other principal test architecture for accelerated weathering and lightfastness testing is xenon arc weathering testing. Q-SUN xenon arc test chambers reproduce the damage caused by full-spectrum sunlight, heat, and rain. One or more xenon arc lamps are used in Q-SUN testers to generate a spectrum very similar to the complete spectrum of outdoor sunlight. Optical filters are used to deliver light spectra tailored to the product’s service environment. Elevated temperatures are generated by the lamps and controlled by black panel thermometers and chamber air temperature control. Moisture is delivered to specimens primarily by water spray, in addition to controlled relative humidity. Rotating rack and flat array testers are both expressly permitted in nearly every major standard, and research studies have confirmed that they deliver similar results in many cases.

Accelerated Outdoor Testing

To combine the realism of outdoor exposure with the fast results of laboratory testing, accelerated outdoor testing is also available using the Q-TRAC Natural Solar Concentrator or the Automotive Interior Materials (AIM) box. For an overview of these tests, see our webinar Accelerated Outdoor Weathering Testing.

The Q-TRAC solar concentrator uses actual sunlight as the light source and is exceptionally useful for testing highly-durable materials with exceptionally long lifetime expectations. It uses an array of 10 mirrors to reflect and concentrate full-spectrum sunlight onto test specimens while tracking the sun throughout the day to maximize the amount of solar exposure that test specimens receive. The Q-TRAC solar concentrator also has a water spray system, which can perform cycles that simulate Florida weathering or create thermal shock. 

AIM Box testing exposes automotive interior materials to high temperatures and outdoor sunshine behind clear or laminated glass, to simulate the conditions inside an automobile. AIM boxes can also track the sun during the day to increase the amount of solar radiation products receive.