Natural Weathering
Outdoor weathering sites
SEVAR / SEVN BANDOL has several outdoor ageing sites. After many years, they became references in term of climate for the outdoor ageing of polymers.
Accredited Testing Laboratory,
Accreditation n° 1-6281, List of sites and
scope available on www.cofrac.fr
The Bandol site
Its Mediterranean climate became the European reference for more than 60 years.
The Guadeloupe site (French Indies)
Its wet tropical climate, more severe than the Florida's one, allows to test materials to extremely severe climatic conditions.
The Mount Aigoual site
Operated in partnership with Météo France, its "mountain" type climate is characterized by severe frost events, strong winds and heavy rainfall.
Situation
The Bandol Weathering Station is located on the French riviera, at an altitude of 220 m, and 4km from the sea, in a highly sunny area. During the last 60 years an average of 3 000 hours per year of sun were observed.
The Guadeloupe site is located at an altitude of 5m and a few kilometers from the Caribbean sea.
The meteorological center of Mont Aigoual is located in the Cévennes at an altitude of 1 567 m.
Climatology
Data recorded by the measuring equipment installed direct on our sites for the last 60 years are given here-after.
The most important parameters regarding polymer ageing are the temperature and the solar irradiance received by the samples.
Its measurements are thus fundamental for a forecast of life expectancy. To get an estimation of the irradiation for a specific location, click here.
The Mont Aigoual climate is characterized by :
Test processes
Different kinds of exposures are available, depending on the product to try out, and the required conditions (eg open air, under glass, …).
Samples tested
All kind of samples can be exposed, whatever their form and size.
Test processing
All the products intended to be exposed temporarily or permanently outdoor or in a high lighted area can be tested.
The natural test allows :
- the study of outdoor degradation under natural conditions on recognised ageing sites,
- the possibility of testing simultaneously a large number of samples or huge ones (eg window frame),
- the possibility of making a correlation between the degradation of the samples and the climatic conditions,
- a durability guarantee for the products tested, because local climates combined with exposure at the latitude angle represent the hardest conditions.
This makes Bandol being the european reference site and Guadeloupe being the caribbean reference site.
Degradation and evaluations
SEVAR engineers can realize all degradation inspections, in particular :
Surface temperature measurement performed by sensors connected to data loggers or via IR thermometry
Changes in the visual aspect (Delorme scale, Grey scale according to ISO 105-A02, A03,chalking), or instrumentaly (glossmeter, spectrocolorimeter)
Changes of the mechanical properties
Measurement of the chemical evolution of the exposed products