Aging of polymer compounds

Rubber and plastic products will gradually age when exposed to the natural environment. There are many reasons for aging, including sunlight, ozone, temperature, humidity, etc. Therefore, to know the quality of these polymer compound products, weather resistance tests must be carried out, among which light resistance tests are the main ones. Sunlight tests alone are not guaranteed, so artificial light sources are used for polymer aging tests.

The light sources used in aging boxes abroad generally include carbon arc lamps, mercury lamps, and Xenon Lamps. Their spectral energy distribution is close to sunlight and needs to be continuously distributed. However, they also hope that the ultraviolet band has abundant ultraviolet rays.

Carbon arc lamps - The ultraviolet light range that promotes plastic aging is 3000~3200A, and ultraviolet carbon arc lamps can radiate wavelengths in this range. Other wavelengths are close to sunlight, but the operation method of carbon arc lamps is inconvenient.

Hydrogen lamps The United States uses water-cooled Xenon Lamps installed in aging boxes. To prevent the light efficiency of the lamp from fading, the cooling water must be purified. The spectral energy distribution of Xenon Lamps is close to sunlight.

Ultraviolet fluorescent lamps - The United States and Japan use 20W ultraviolet fluorescent lamps (20~30 pieces), which are characterized by low heat generation and low price.