Enviromental Testing Specs for outdoor products

IMHO I'd would seriously suggest that the best way is to do real 6 month and 1 year tests.

Unless you have a completely finished profuct this time will whistle by with field trails and other stuff. You can't beat the real thing.

I hear ya. Same problem here, if I told my boss I needed 6 months to a year to test, he may just fire me and hire be back next year to see how I did.

You have a lot of questions but not much information so I'll give you some directions. Look for spec.'s on salt spray. I suggest your parts survive 500 hours in intense salt spay for any outdoor application, (1,000 hours or more is common for cars). find a good salt spray booth for the testing, ask the guy selling you the test for the ANSI spec, I'll bet he has most of it memorized. As for the the UV test, most of the suppliers I deal with have done the testing for me are quick to provide me with the results of the tests. Get copies, if your product doesn't live up to the results expected, you can push back on the supplier who provided the test, they become liable.

good luck

Put it out to an environmental test house, or maybe a big company near you has facilities it will let you rent out?

I think trying to buy the equipment in will cost a fortune and be a waste unless you will be using it frequently.

Hello Del,

(Before I start...I have read a ton of your posts. I wish I worked with you! I could learn lots...)

anyway, yea we are contracting it out to a Eviromental lab to do the testing. What I am looking for is a standard to tell them to test it to. ANSI, ISO, IP? I just am not familar with what is out there.

Or if even someone knows off the top of their head what the temp ranges, hours of test etc...

Anything you can tell me will be of benefit...

Thanks!

Bill12780

Cheers...

Sorry I've forgotten what environmental specs I ever knew... mind I did work at Cossor/Raytheon many years ago and they had I nice Env' Lab.

Over here it's all EN spec's used to be BS... Isn't there some sort of equivalent to BSI (British Standards Institute ) over there who can point you at the right spec to buy ?(I'm sure they won't let you have it for free!) 'Cos presumably there are loads of different specs for different climatic categories....

Like does it have to stay outdoors all the time? Or outside but under cover? Or coastal. Maritime etc?

Used to be that the harshest environments were military...now it's more likely to be a kids gaming console!

Maybe that's it ...leave it in a kids playground ..if it lasts 2 days you've done a good job!

It's notoriously difficult to workout realistic accelerated life tests. I recent visted BRE (Buildings Research Esablishment) they had loads of stuff outdoors just being allowed to weather naturally...they also had sfes being tested with thermal lances and all sorts of goodies...brilliant place!

Good luck

Del

PS... Silly me... surely the Env' Lab should be able to advise.. even if they charge a consultancy fee for 5 minutes of their time?

Hey-there from Amish Country, Bill -

watching the interactions thus far with Del (who seems to be an excellent source) just thought I would throw in a few cents worth from a potentially "plastic's" point of view -

Again, would need to know what the product actually has to do, but additional things to think about in addition to the temp, humidity, UV etc also have to do with other environmental issues - you brought up Salt - good - especially if your product has to live in Dade or Broward Counties in Florida - tough sets of specs to meet on most construction related products -

Also important is the listing of WHERE your products will live - example - plastic parts that survive UV tests at sea level often times fail at higher elevations like the high desert in the Northwest or around Denver - the UV at higher elevations takes a much larger toll quicker etc -

Also, you need to benchmark your expectations as you PRODUCE the product - for instance if you expect >= 2 inch lbs per mil drop dart impact capability as produced, are the products meeting that during the entire run - and is a representative sample of the high and low START being used to drive the testing -

UV in general - some plastics are by design going to yellow first then get whiter as they continue to age - so be careful of the 'results' at "X" time -

So, a rather complete set of questions should be asked and answered as part of your internal contract review regarding the use of your product and any special warranties that you intend to imply or express -

thanks for the opportunity -

Jim

oops, forgot to thank Labyguy for the great 'Salt' suggestion; My bad, sorry.

Jim

Check out ASTM specifications. Any good engineering library should have a set of the books, or the tests can be downloaded from the web. The tests are designed by the users of the particular material, so you may have a UV exposure test for a plastic material used in construction and another different test for the same plastic UV exposure in automotive use. You have to determine which test best satisfies the exposure your product must endure.

Just to throw another log on the fire, you may find that your specific industry has its own test standards. For example:

ASME for boilers, material handling equipment, etc.

SAE for automotive parts, vehicles, and accessories

BIFMA for business/institutional furniture

IEEE for electronics

and I am sure there are many more.

Many of these have been adopted as ANSI standards also so you sometimes see them listed as ANSI/SAE, ANSI/ASME, etc. however, the industry-specific group usually has control and the best literature rather than ANSI, which often will only redirect inquiries to the specific group.

If your product is generic, includes components which are covered by different industries (for example a mechanical device with electronic controls) or has applications in more than one industry, it may have to meet ALL the pertinent requirements!

Go here http://www.saiglobal.com/shop/script/Search.asp This Australian web site lists all standards and you can register its free and then find details on all standards. When you register you can see what each standard relates to you can read the indexes etc and then you can purchase or just quote the standard to the company who are doing the testing.