Sample temperatures during outdoor and laboratory weathering exposures

Effective exposure temperatures (Teff) in Arizona were calculated from hourly or 10-min parsed irradiation data along with ambient, black panel, and sample temperatures. The Teff represents a constant temperature that creates the same amount of photodegradation as the naturally varying temperature and provides a benchmark temperature for making lifetime predictions from accelerated laboratory exposures. The annual ambient and black panel Teff at a Wittmann, Arizona site were 30 °C and 42 °C, respectively, assuming that the photodegradation has an activation energy (Ea) of 21 kJ/mol (5 kcal/mol). Teff was only weakly dependent on Ea over the range of 10-40 kJ/mol (3-10 kcal/mol). Samples exposed as van sunroofs were found to have Teff that were offset from the black panel temperatures by a constant amount for the entire year. Thus, measurements of sample and black panel need to be made for only a few weeks to determine the offset and give the annual sample Teff if the annual black panel Teff is known. Light-colored samples probably are better compared with the ambient temperatures. Sample temperatures in xenon arc exposures usually are higher than the outdoor Teff, so Arrhenius temperature corrections need to be carried out to relate accelerated to outdoor exposures. Temperatures in xenon arc exposure tests often correspond more closely to maximum temperatures that samples might encounter for only a few hours per year.