Why Test?
Exterior paints and coatings are often used to protect metals from moisture and salt in the air. Customers expect excellent long-term durability against the elements, but damage to coatings can lessen their ability to protect from rust.
Will your paints last outdoors? For how long? Do your new environmentally-friendly, low-VOC formulations meet your customers' performance expectations? Has something changed in your process that might affect your paint’s adhesion or corrosion resistance? Don't guess when you can test.
The paint and coatings industry is extremely diverse. Q-Lab offers testing for many corrosion-resistant paints and coatings, including the following applications:
- Architectural coatings
- Industrial and maintenance coatings
- Automotive coatings
- Exterior stains and varnishes
- Coil coatings
- Powder coatings
- Low-VOC coatings
- Marine coatings
- Cool and IR-reflective coatings
Coatings on metals must withstand the forces of corrosion, and the Q-FOG cyclic corrosion chamber is the perfect tool for recreating realistic industrial or marine corrosion in the laboratory. When you alternate Q-FOG and QUV tester exposures, you obtain the most reliable and realistic weathering and corrosion results available today.
Our Exposure Testing Services for Paints and Coatings
Florida Natural Outdoor
While accelerated corrosion chambers are a key weapon in the fight against outdoor corrosive forces, nothing beats the real thing: outdoor testing in Q-Lab's Florida outdoor testing facilities. Large coatings manufacturers began testing in South Florida many decades ago and continue to test there today. No corrosion testing program is complete without it.
Accelerated Laboratory Corrosion
Accelerated laboratory corrosion testing is an efficient and effective way to evaluate the durability of paints and coatings, designed to accelerate your corrosion testing process to provide you with accurate and reliable answers.
Q-Lab's accelerated corrosion testers simulate the primary types of corrosion affecting painted and coated metals, including:
- General Corrosion
- Crevice Corrosion
- Filiform Corrosion
- Pitting Corrosion
A variety of international test standards are used to evaluate paint and coatings’ corrosion resistance. Visit Q-Lab’s Standards Search page to browse standards and find the right test for your product.
Additional Testing for Paints and Coatings
Weathering Testing
Corrosion isn't the only concern for paint and coating product manufacturers. Weathering due to sunlight, heat, and moisture can lead to many different types of degradation to protective coatings. Weathering testing helps answer critical questions about paints’ long-term durability.