The process of aging is inextricably associated with the oxidation, which, in this case, is a negative process. Many research studies have focused on determining life expectancy and, for materials/products – their life time. At our laboratory in the Institute of Polymer and Dye Technology, TUL, research is conducted on predicting and, at the same time, calculating, the life time of a broad range of materials from packaging to tyres, windows, even concrete.
One of its kind in Europe, the aging laboratory allows researchers to perform accelerated aging tests on e.g. polyolefins which are known to have a very long degradation time. Simulated accelerated climate aging (with solar radiation typical for Arizona or Florida) as well as more specific – aging by thermal shock allows us to look into the future and answer the question how properties of a given materials will have changed in 5, 10 or even 30 years.
With the aid of several mathematical models, based on the Arrhenius equation, we are able to predict changes in functional properties of materials such as their tensile strength, tensile elongation at break, surface energy, colour. Currently available are aging accelerators capable of ramping up polymer aging 50-60 times. In Arizona, at one of corporate laboratories there are environmental chambers that could fit an entire car of half a house inside. Hot and dry climate of this region is conducive to aging by photo oxidation (UV radiation).
Therefore, with the current state of technology, it is indeed possible to calculate life time of materials and products, and the correlation of the results is very high with the conditions of natural aging, which ensures reliability of conducted research studies. Many manufacturers offers long warranty for their innovative materials, which would not be possible without simulated aging tests.
