Adjustment and control of weathering conditions in accelerated tests of polymer materials for better correlation

The principal possibilities of acceleration will be discussed. Technical polymers are a complicated system of several components exposed to the various influencing factors of the weather which themselves are often in interaction. A decisive technical presupposition concerning the comparison of accelerated weathering and outdoor weathering as well as reproducibility of accelerated weathering results are adjustment, measurement and control of the most important influencing parameters in the weathering device. This will particularly be discussed for the following parameters: Spectral energy distribution, irradiance/radiant exposure, relative humidity/water, and concentration of various industrial pollutant gases.