Sunlight, Weathering & Light stability testing is the process of exposing a product to a combination of lighting conditions and moisture simulation that simulate real-world environments. This can include direct sunlight, sunlight through a window, fluorescent office lighting or even the light and rain environment a product would see in the rain forests of South America. This testing also is known as Photostability, Xenon Arc testing, UV exposure testing or Carbon Arc testing. DDL uses Xenon Arc testing chambers to simulate these environmental conditions for non-cGMP testing.
Using accelerated exposures we can get results in a fraction of the time what might otherwise take years to get results in a real world environment. It is important to qualify new designs and materials ensuring that the durability and lifecycle of a product or material is known. Environmental exposure can also be used to demonstrate that unacceptable change to a product has not occurred when exposed to various conditions; it can also be used to examine the lightfastness of inks used in packaging or to simulate damage that can occur from full-spectrum sunlight and rain while a product is used and stored outdoors.
The importance of this stability study can be seen in the way products are stored and used. For example, using our xenon chambers we can see the effects sunlight and rain exposure has to vinyl siding or other plastics used in the outdoors. Xenon Arc testing can be used to assess the length of time these products can be exposed to direct or indirect sunlight and still be operational or at which point they need to be replaced. The xenon exposure chambers we have at DDL meet the requirements of many ASTM, ISO, ICH , IEC and ANSI standards.
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