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If you're concerned about your product's appearance or functional performance in the outdoor environment, you're not alone. Sunlight, heat, and moisture cause billions of dollars in product damage every year. A proper weathering testing program can h...

Q-Lab provides internationally-recognized outdoor subtropical weathering at our benchmark Florida location. Additionally, Q-Lab provides internationally-recognized outdoor desert weathering at our benchmark Arizona location.Download File

Weatherability and corrosion data are necessary for the selection of new materials and the improve - ment of existing materials. The main weathering forces that may cause material degradation are sunlight, high temperature and moisture. Outdoor expos...

Background In the early 1900s, researchers began to assess the weatherability of materials by exposing specimens outdoors on vertical, south-facing racks. By 1908, members of ASTM Committee D-1 and the Paint Manufacturer’s Association began outd...

It is important to properly quantify the results of any exposure testing program. Typically, the client is interested in the type and/or amount of change in a material's properties. Change in some prop - erties, for example color or gloss, can be mea...

Reference: Grossman, D.M., “Errors Caused by Using Joules to Time Laboratory and Outdoor Expo - sure Tests”, Accelerated and Outdoor Durability Testing of Organic Materials, ASTM STP 1202, Warren D. Ketola, and Douglas Grossman, Eds., American Societ...

Sunlight, 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, chalking, cr...

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...

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...