Why Test?
The automotive industry represents a unique and complex mix of materials that must meet stringent outdoor durability requirements in a highly cost-conscious, rapidly-changing market. Interior products must withstand constant light and elevated temperatures without degradation or failure. Vehicles are subject to the damaging forces of nature, including sunlight, heat, and moisture.
Will your automotive exterior and products last outdoors? Will your automotive interior products last in the unique conditions they will face? For how long? Do your new raw material suppliers have the same quality as your previous ones? Has something changed in your process that might affect the long term durability of your products? Don't guess when you can test.
Q-Lab serves automotive OEMs and all tiers of the supply chain, including the following segments:
- Coatings
- Exterior Trims & Plastics
- Wheels & Suspensions
- Automotive Lighting
- Interior Textiles & Leathers
- Interior Trims & Plastics
- Displays
- Graphic Overlays
Automotive coatings and plastics are regularly tested in the QUV accelerated weathering tester for quality control and R&D. Its accurate simulation of the short-wave UV portion of sunlight and realistic - yet aggressive - moisture functions have made it the world's most widely-used weathering tester. For OEM acceptance, the Q-SUN xenon test chamber is the tester of choice because of its accurate simulation of full spectrum sunlight, relative humidity control, and versatile, easy-to-use flat specimen tray allowing for testing of three-dimensional specimens.
Our Exposure Testing Services for the Automotive Industry
Florida & Arizona Natural Outdoor
While accelerated weathering chambers are a key weapon in the fight against the forces of sunlight, heat, and moisture, nothing beats the real thing: outdoor testing in one of Q-Lab's benchmark outdoor testing facilities. Q-Lab's South Florida and Arizona desert sites provide the ultimate test of your product's outdoor durability using natural conditions.
Accelerated Laboratory Weathering
Accelerated laboratory weathering testing is an efficient and effective way to evaluate the durability of automotive interior and exterior materials, designed to accelerate your weathering testing process to provide you with accurate and reliable answers.
Q-Lab's accelerated weathering testers simulate the primary weathering & lightfastness conditions that degrade automotive components, including:
- Color Change & Fading
- Yellowness of Polymers
- Hazing
- Cracking
- Crazing
- Peeling & Delamination
- Warping
- Embrittlement
- Gloss Loss
- Chalking
- Blistering
- Loss of Tensile Strength
A variety of international test standards are used to evaluate automotive components’ weathering resistance and light stability. Specialized tests have been developed by OEM's as well as by international committees, including ASTM D7689 for transportation coatings and ASTM D7356 for acid etch testing, and SAE for interior and exterior automotive components. Visit Q-Lab’s Standards Search page to browse standards and find the right test for your product.
Additional Testing for Automotive Applications
Corrosion Testing
Weathering isn't the only concern for automotive manufacturers. Corrosion is responsible for a great deal of damage to automotive materials each year. For testing against the forces of corrosion, the Q-FOG cyclic corrosion chamber is the perfect tool for recreating realistic road 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.
Automotive Interior Materials (AIM) Box
AIM Boxes are under-glass enclosures that simulate the sunlight and heat found inside an automobile. These important environmental stressors result in color change, cracking, peeling, oxidation, or loss of strength of materials in car and truck interiors. AIM boxes can accelerate these stressors by tracking the sun throughout the day. AIM boxes are suitable for mounting large components like instrument panels, seat cushions, and steering wheels. Small, flat specimens can also be mounted to test samples like interior trim.