Use of Integrating Spheres as Ultraviolet Radiation Sources for Artificial Weathering of Polymers.
Use of Integrating Spheres as Ultraviolet Radiation
Sources for Artificial Weathering of Polymers.
(446 K)
Chin, J. W.; Byrd, W. E.; Embree, E. J.; Martin, J.
Radtech 2002 Focus Group End User Technical Conference.
Proceedings. April 28 - May 1, 2002, Indianapolis, IN,
931-946 pp, 2002.
Keywords:
integrating sphere; polymers; ultraviolet radiation;
weather effects; weathering; irradiance; equations
Abstract:
Laboratory ultraviolet (UV) chambers are widely used to
obtain weathering data for a wide range of commercial
polymer products including coatings, textiles,
elastomers, plastics and polymeric composites. Although
numerous improvements have been made in the design of UV
chambers over the last 80 years, the reproducibility of
the exposure results from these chambers have remained
elusive. This lack of reproducibility is attributed to
systematic errors in their design, operation, and
control which prevent direct comparisons of the
performance of materials exposed in the same
environment, comparisons of the performance of the same
material exposed in different laboratories, and the
comparison of field and laboratory results. This paper
describes an innovative UV chamber design based on
integrating sphere technology that greatly reduces the
magnitude of these errors, as well as provides
additional experimental capabilities.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899