What Is The Weathering Test

What Is The Weathering Test

Weathering refers to the processes of disintegration and decomposition of rocks on or near the earth's surface due to atmospheric factors, water and organisms. Additionally, there are two kinds of weathering tests, including the outdoor natural weathering test and the accelerated weathering test in special test box. By learning the knowledge of the weathering test, we can have a better understanding about the accelerated weathering tester and use it better in all walks of our life. 

1.Principle of The Weathering Test

As we have introduced above, some weathering processes are mechanical, such as expansion and contraction caused by sudden drastic changes in temperature, expansion of frozen water in cracks, penetration caused by plant roots and impact of running water and so on. But others are chemical, such as oxidation, hydration, carbonization and loss of chemical elements due to water dissolution. In fact, weathering is very important because it contributes to soil formation and prepares for degradation or corrosion of materials .

2.Classification of The Weathering Test

The Outdoor Natural Weathering Test

This kind of weathering test is caused by natural factors rather than the accelerated weathering tester. And in general, it will take hundreds of years to finish this process because the function of natural factors is weaker than that of human factors. Therefore, this kind of weathering is usually regarded as a natural phenomenon but has few applications. 

The Accelerated Weathering Test In Special Test Box

This kind of weathering test is a manual operation and needs a machine called the accelerated weathering tester. In weathering laboratories, plastic samples are exposed to intense light, heat and water cycles by using the accelerated weathering tester to accelerate the process of weathering. Thus, professional knowledge of this weathering test covers a wide range of industries, including automobiles, building products, solar energy, aviation and so on. At the same time, more and more companies are turning to accelerated weathering tests and dedicated to invent better accelerated weathering tester because of the increasing demands for fast access to high-quality decision-making data. 

Nevertheless, any accelerated weathering is incomplete without the confirmation and association of natural weathering. That is because natural weathering can provide the data needed to ensure that products processed by the accelerated weathering tester do not incur unnecessary cost. Though the accelerated weathering tester does not provide completely accurate information for predicting the aging properties of plastics, the weathering tests do allow meaningful material comparisons to help engineers make well-founded choices. 

3.Application of The Weathering Test

Natural weathering test is mainly to provide comparative data for the accelerating weathering test to inspect the effect of the accelerated weathering tester. 

To the contrary, the accelerated weathering test has a variety of applications in accelerating the environmental tests, including salt tests, humidity tests, ultraviolet tests, color spectroscopy and many non-standard tests. Specifically speaking, there are xenon arc exposure, assessment of aging performance before and after exposure and three-dimensional color measurement and others. Of course, test results are also the best feedback of the performance of the accelerated weathering tester, helping us improve the machine. 

 In short, only when we understand what the weathering test is can we make good use of the accelerated weathering tester and wish the boom of the market of the accelerated weathering tester. That is all that counts.