QUESTION:

What is the mechanical performance of my weathered material?

Exposure to UV-radiation, high or low humidity, and elevated or low temperature can influence the mechanical behaviour of a material. Thin and multilayers coatings, polymers, composites, … are all examples of materials that are affected by (prolonged) exposure to altered conditions. The performance of metals can also be affected by these conditions.

APPROACH:

Combining mechanical testing and weathering techniques

There are many possible combinations of conditions and tests possible at our facilities.
We have a range of state-of-the-art Xenon weathermeters at our disposal for the exposure to UV-radiation.
Additionally, our lab also houses a wide range of climatic chambers with controlled humidity and a broad range of possible temperatures.
Cyclic exposure to extreme conditions can help accelerate the weathering of the investigated material.

Finally, the material can be tested. Our universal testing machine can be used to perform many type of tests: tensile, compression, creep, peel, bending tests, and others. Our setup also allows for testing in a chamber with controlled temperature and humidity. This also allows us to investigate the effect of changing conditions on the material, for example thermal relaxation or the effect of drying.

Both optical evaluation and mechanical testing can be offered as an all-in service. Whether you already have a specific test in mind with pass/fail criterion, or you need consultancy in selecting the right test conditions for your material in view of the intended application, AgfaLabs can help.

• We have experience with testing of a wide range of materials and can identify the pitfalls and limitations of accelerated testing from own correlation studies with natural weathering.
• We have ample experience from active participation in ISO and IEC project teams with regular inter-laboratory comparison (“Round Robin”) of weathering and material testing.
• Furthermore, for questions in a R&D context, we can offer advanced analysis of failure modes after weathering tapping into a wide range of chemical analytical (FTIR, NMR, …) and / or microscopic methods (light microscopy, SEM, …).