Technology and method for medium and ultra-accelerated photodegradation studies
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Photo oxidation and degradation of polymers can be studied on the molecular level by use of (ultra)accelerated photoaging testing with SEPAP MHE. This instrument employs special medium-pressure mercury lamps. While these lamps do not provide a full-spectrum solar simulation, they deliver a useful line spectrum within the natural solar UV and visible range. Their low heat radiation enables high-irradiance testing under controlled conditions:
- Medium-accelerated testing: 90 W/m² (290–420 nm) at 60°C
- Ultra-accelerated testing: up to 300 W/m² (290–420 nm) at 80°C
Unlike xenon-arc weathering - which typically targets macroscopic property changes such as color shift, gloss loss, or cracking - (ultra)accelerated photoaging focuses on molecular-level transformations. At this scale, polymer degradation products and the simultaneous reduction of light/UV stabilizers can be analyzed using advanced techniques such as FTIR, UV-VIS, MALDI-TOF, and NMR spectroscopy.
This Online Seminar was developed in cooperation with the National Center for the Evaluation of Photoprotection (CNEP).
You will learn about:
- Photooxidation and photodegradation of polymers
- Ultra-accelerated photoaging with SEPAP technology
- FTIR spectroscopy for analysis on molecular level
- Identification of the critical degradation product
- Correlation of medium and ultra-accelerated tests to natural exposure