Have you ever been in a situation where you wonder how most of these products manufactured today can withstand the effects of environmental conditions? This is possible because those products are subjected to a testing process through external factors like temperature and humidity when they were being designed. It is these testing processes, which ensure that every manufactured product is of the highest quality and reliable to use in several environmental conditions.

Here is what you need to know about the benchtop environmental testing chambers:

What’s the benchtop environmental testing chamber?

A benchtop environmental chamber is a testing machine used for testing the effects of environmental conditions on products and materials when subjected to certain climates. The benchtop testing chambers is a cost-effective machine that comes with a wide range of features that boosts its flexibility, uniformity, and accuracy. The machine is popularly used for testing smaller products due to its design structure that makes it comfortable for testing electronics and its components.

The benchtop chamber comes with a different configuration that gives it the ability to adjust through various testing options such as temperature testing and humidity testing. With the unique design of the benchtop environmental test chamber, products can easily be tested, while keeping the machine on simple surfaces.

What is the use of the benchtop environmental testing chamber?

The benchtop environmental testing chamber is very portal in size, able to fit perfectly on top of a personal desk. It’s used in testing different types of products and materials at the temperature range of -20, -40, or -60 °C to +150 °C in some machine models, while choosing among other different testing performance. Most model of the benchtop environmental testing chamber comes with features such as:

• Touch screen colored display

The screen comes with a quality color for displaying sensitive information in the selected language of your choice, based on the user’s customization of the benchtop environmental chamber.

• Transfer data through USB

The transferring of data through USB to the benchtop environmental test chamber makes things fast and easy. You don’t need to worry about a solution on how to transfer a program to the chamber, because all that is required is a USB stick. You can easily export and import test profiles from other chambers, as well as exporting temperature and humidity files to be edited on a computer.

• Remote for monitoring and control the machine

The remote controller gives the user access to controlling the machine and sending commands like starting and stopping an ongoing test process, choosing and navigating through temperature profiles, etc.

What is the main application of the benchtop environmental testing chamber?

For years the main application of the benchtop environmental testing chamber is to test the effect of environmental conditions on industrial products, materials, biological products, electronic devices, and components.

These products and materials are subjected inside an enclosed benchtop environmental chamber before the setting are toggle to mimic different climatic conditions inside the chamber from warmer to cooler climates depending on the types of the testing process required.

How to operate the benchtop environmental testing chamber?

There’s no doubt that environmental testing chambers are quite complex to operate. But, that doesn’t mean, it’s not possible to operate if you’re qualified with the basic technical knowledge. In the benchtop environmental testing chamber, the specimen required to be tested will need to be placed firmly inside the chamber testing plate.

In most cases, depending on the nature of the specimen, if it’s not firm when place on the testing plate inside the chamber, it can be hanged inside with the aid of fixed hangers inside the chamber with a tiny rope. Once the specimen is successfully placed inside the benchtop environmental testing chamber, the desired temperature degree for the testing process will need to be set.

Depending on the testing process the specimen requires, additional steps might be needed. For example, the humidity testing process will require the operator to add water before activating the process.

How to choose the benchtop environmental testing chamber?

Do you own a manufacturing business that requires the use of a benchtop environmental testing chamber? If yes, then you might be worried about how to choose the right benchtop environmental testing chamber for your business. The benchtop environmental testing chamber comes with different features that provide a series of functions for certain testing operations.

It means that when you are choosing a benchtop environmental testing chamber for your business, you should first consider the type of testing your manufactured products and materials needs. Every product or material requires to be subjected to different testing processes in the benchtop environmental chamber. Meaning that the earlier you determined what type of benchtop environmental testing chamber your developed products need, the higher chance you have of choosing the best testing chamber with accurate features.

Here are what you need to evaluate when choosing a benchtop environmental testing chamber:

• Size

Determining the products or materials size of what you intend on testing on the machine will allow you to choose the perfect chamber size.

• Function

Most people don’t keep track of checking the function of the testing chamber they intend to buy, which might end up being disastrous during the testing process. Several environmental chambers are designed for a specific type of testing such as humidity and temperature testing for some products.

• Operation

Know what type of environmental chamber you can be able to operate. Nowadays, there are several types of environmental testing chambers being developed and most of them come with special features, functions, etc. Therefore, it’s important to learn and understand the comprehensive functions of any testing chamber that your manufactured products or materials required before choosing any type of benchtop environmental chamber. Once you can configure and manage the type of benchtop environment test chamber your product needs, then you’re a step away from testing your development!

• Design

Most people don’t consider the design of the testing machine they require, especially when it meets their environmental requirements such as portal size and structure, able to accommodate small and big specimens effectively. However, the chamber design material is one thing you have to keep in mind because it determines how it will withstand higher and lower temperatures when testing specimens.

The salt spray method is a popular process, which ensures that materials and products are tested for corrosion determining its ability to adapt to certain environmental conditions. This process requires the use of a testing chamber to check the corrosion resistance of different products or materials surface. The use of the salt spray method applies to certain metallic materials and products, which can be metals, alloys, and others.

Products that are finished with a surface coating of metallic will require salt spray testing to determine the degree of corrosion. During the testing period, the salt spray produces a corrosive attack on the material to evaluate its degree of sustainability or amount of damages the material incurs under certain conditions. The salt spray testing period depends on the material’s ability to resist corrosion, which can be due to its coating or finishing features. This means that the higher the material’s ability to resist corrosion, the longer it will take the testing process to complete (appearance of corrosion).

What is the salt spray test chamber?

The salt spray test chamber is specifically built for testing the ability of materials to resist corrosion. The salt spray test chamber is designed to utilize a powerful component that includes a sensor to determine the temperature of the material during the testing process. The salty spray test chamber comes with a programmed control that can be either analog or digital for the purpose of indicating targeted temperature. The machine-testing sensor reads the temperature value of the material as the test goes on while providing results to the operator. In the salty spray test chamber, the programmed controller provides information that can be customized and edited based on the user’s intention, such as creating testing cycles, temperature profiles, and more.

The salt spray test chamber makes use of a certain amount of salt-water (NaCl) solution along with pressurized air from the spray nozzle to create a corrosive environment inside the chamber. This corrosive environment will include salt-water fog that will affect the specimen before providing results based on each condition it undergoes.

In the salt spray test chamber, a certain specimen can be limited to testing due to its size and type of material.  In most cases, larger chambers are mostly preferred when testing bigger or smaller specimens in batches as it will provide enough testing space with accurate results. All salt spray test chamber has the purpose of creating a corrosive environment by cycling through ranges of temperature value to test product efficiently.

Where can the salt spray test chamber be used?

There’s no limitation to where you can use the salt spray test chamber. Once there’s enough space and a normal temperature rate around the environment, you can configure and use the salt spray test chamber while making sure that it’s perfectly closed during the process to avoid creating pollution and jeopardizing safety.

How to use the salt spray test chamber?

To get an accurate result after testing, the specimen will need to be properly attached to the test machine. It requires the user to do everything the right way. The first step for the salt spray testing is getting the specimen ready. How the specimen will be tested depends on the nature of the specimen such as shapes, sizes, and it’s coating features.

Testing materials can be placed in the specimen carrier area or comfortably hanged with a thread on the fixed rod inside the chamber to ensure an accurate testing process. After placing the specimen, the testing chamber is required to be closed, with the needed testing parameters like temperature value, and others set. In most cases, the result of each test in the chamber depends on the technique used during the testing period.

Why do you need to pay attention to when operating the salt spray test chamber?

The operator managing the salt spray chamber during the testing period because of several reasons that include safety etc. During the testing process in the salt spray test chamber, the material undergoes ambient condition testing that will require the attention of the operator. The operator is required to be available at the initial stage of placing the specimen on the carrier area inside the chamber perfectly. This will ensure that the specimen doesn’t fall off the test area during the operation.

The salt spray test chamber performs testing tasks based on the operator’s added command. It means that once a process has been activated, the operator is required to closely monitor the whole process while recording necessary attributes, ensuring everything goes as required.

Therefore, the operator is required to pay extreme attention when testing specimens on the salt spray chamber for safety. There’s no doubt that the specimen might end up damaged after the testing process, due to the amount of corrosion incurred. However, without the operator’s attention during the testing process, the machine will likely breakdown after running for a long period, causing serious damage.

How to choose the salt spray test chamber?

As a business owner that owns a manufacturing business that might require the use of salty spray testing chambers for testing products and materials corrosion resistance. There’s no doubt that the use of the salt spray test chamber in testing your products will boost your initial goal which might be producing risk-free developments. However, the complex task normally comes when choosing the appropriate test chamber. Getting the perfect salt spray test chamber for testing of your business products is not an easy task, as it requires you making some considerations, which includes:

• Salt spray test chamber size

When buying a salt spray test chamber, the accurate size for the products and material you want to test is always the first thing to consider. If your business manufacturers products that are in sizes, then buying a smaller test chamber can fulfill your requirement. However, if there are bigger materials and product developments from your manufacturing company, the larger chamber will be a better choice for testing. DGBELL has a different size from the salt spray test chamber.

• Types of material to test

The type of materials or products your company develops will serve as the key to what type of corrosion test machine your business needs. Some testing machine only tests certain products and materials depending on what’s used in manufacturing it.

• Salt spray test chamber price

Finally, another thing to consider when choosing the perfecting test chamber is the Salt spray-test chamber price. There’s are different types of salt spray chambers and each of them provides different purposes in testing different sizes of products and materials. However, when it comes to price, there’s no fixed amount as it’s often based on the testing machine feature and its ability to determine to create a corrosive environment for test after configuration.

With the option of buying a salt spray-testing machine from a popular salt spray test chamber manufacturers, all your innovation and development will be thoroughly tested. With all the above considerations in choosing a salt spray test chamber, there’s every possible reason that you won’t find it difficult to get the perfect testing machine for your business. It will help boost your business developmental process to its peak as they produce durable and certified products or materials.

The rain spray test machine is used for external lighting and signaling devices and automobile lamp shell protection, which can provide a realistic simulation of various environments such as water pouring and spray tests that electronic products and their components may be subjected to during transportation and use. But when you are experimenting, do you know the most important factors?

1. Factors of product placement

When we are doing the test, the length of the test time directly affects the rationality of the test results. If the test time is too long, it does not conform to the situation of natural rainfall. If the test time is too short, the rainwater will not enter the tested product, and the evaluation effect will not be achieved.

In addition, during natural rainfall, the direction of each rainfall cannot be the same, which means that the surface of the tested product is exposed to rain differently, so we put the tested product in a normal use state during the test.

2. Water temperature factor

Larger rainfall intensity generally occurs in summer when the temperature is higher. However, because the rainwater can adjust the temperature when it rains, the temperature of the rainwater falling to the ground will not be too high. When the test is conducted according to the standard test conditions, it is unnecessary to control the water temperature, but the water temperature should be as close as possible to the temperature of the tested product, so as to reduce the possibility of condensate water generated inside the tested product. Therefore, the temperature of the test water should be 15℃±10℃.

3. Water pressure factor

The pressure of the rain test chamber is supplied by tap water. Sometimes the pressure is high, sometimes the pressure is small, and the fluctuation is large, and it cannot meet the water pressure of the supplied products specified by the standard. Therefore, DGBell specially designed the water pressure regulator device.

Not only the energy is continuously supplied with water, but also the prescribed water pressure required for the test can be maintained regularly to ensure that the test is carried out under normal water pressure.

In short, the protection level test parameters of the lamp housing are based on meteorological data for many years and simulate the harsher natural conditions as much as possible, so at the same time, the acceleration and repeatability of the test should be properly considered to evaluate the product.

After knowing the important factors mentioned above, we must clearly know the function of the rain spray test machine:

1. The rain spray test machine can be used in workshops, laboratories, and other places to conduct IPX1-IPX6 waterproof rating tests.
2. Box structure, water recycling, energy-saving, and environmental protection, no need to build a special waterproof laboratory, saving input costs.
3. There is a large transparent window (tempered glass material) on the door, and an LED lighting lamp is installed in the rain and waterproof test chamber to facilitate observation of the internal test situation.
4. Turntable drive: using the imported motor, the speed and angle can be set on the touch screen (adjustable), stepless adjustable within the standard range, and can automatically control the positive and negative rotation (positive and reverse rotation: suitable for the power-on test with products to prevent winding)
5. The test time can be set on the touch screen, and the setting range is 1-999,999min (adjustable).
6. The spray angle of the nozzle is 40°, 90°, 135° fixed direction, and spray water to the center of rotation. The flow rate of each nozzle is 100±5 L/min (adjustable), and the flow rate displays the direct reading.
7. In order to operate this rain spray test machine more safely, we also have safety protection measures such as power overload, short circuit protection, grounding protection, water protection, and alarm ring tip.

After understanding the function of the rain spray test machine, how should we operate it?

1. After powering on the device and turning on the power switch, the controller will enter the custom stop interface.
2. After the set program has finished running, the rain spray test machine will automatically stop running.
3. Open the door of the test machine, but the test sample into the sample rack of the sample studio and then close the door to perform the test.
4. Do not open the door of the test machine during the test. You can know the changes in the test sample in the test machine from the test observation window. The temperature and humidity of the test sample will also be displayed on the meter.
5. Be sure to turn off the power after the test.

The aging test mainly refers to the thermal oxygen aging test of rubber, plastic products, electrical insulation materials, and other materials; or the ventilation aging test for electronic parts and plastic products.

High Temperature Aging Environmental Test Chamber

Double-deck High Temperature Aging Test Chamber

Seven aging test methods:

At present, there are many aging test methods for polymer materials, including climate aging test, ultraviolet aging test, ozone aging test, hot air aging test, high and low temperature alternating aging test, damp heat aging test, medium aging test, salt spray aging test, etc..

Climate Aging Test

The so-called climate aging test is a kind of research method that exposes the test samples of polymer materials to atmospheric environmental conditions, so as to obtain the aging law of the material samples exposed to the atmospheric environment, analyze the properties of polymer materials, and predict their service life.

There are two types of climate aging tests

1. One of them is the natural exposure test, the polymer material test sample is exposed to the real atmospheric environment to obtain the aging behavior of the material in the real environment. The aging information obtained by this aging test method is the most accurate. The most effective method for the aging behavior of molecular materials, but this test method cycle time is too long, time-consuming, and laborious. People in Florida in the United States, Wanning, Mohe, and Wuhan in China have conducted air exposure tests for more than a year.
2. The other is the artificial climate aging test. The artificial climate aging test refers to the aging test method in which people simulate the real atmospheric environmental conditions indoors or strengthen a certain environmental factor to obtain the aging behavior of materials in a short time. It is also called artificial simulated aging or artificially accelerated aging. Artificial climate aging is usually carried out in an artificial climate aging chamber. The commonly used artificial climate aging chambers mainly include xenon lamp climate aging chamber, fluorescent lamp climate aging test chamber, and carbon arc lamp climate aging test chamber. These types of climate aging test chambers simulate or strengthen natural environmental factors from the main climatic factors such as light, temperature, humidity, rain, or condensation to achieve material aging. In addition, the aging test materials should be carried out according to certain test standards.

UV Aging Test

Ultraviolet light in sunlight, because its light energy is equivalent to the bond energy of polymer chemical bonds, can cause the break of the polymer compound chain, which is the main factor leading to the degradation of polymer materials.

The ultraviolet aging test refers to a test method in which the aging test samples of polymer materials are placed in an ultraviolet light field and exposed to obtain the aging behavior and laws of polymer materials.

Generally, the ultraviolet aging test will specify the ultraviolet region and the radiation intensity, such as 40W/m2, in the wavelength range of 300nm-400nm. The light sources used in the UV aging test usually include xenon lamps, fluorescent lamps, tritium lamps, and deuterium lamps. Among them, xenon lamps can simulate the solar spectrum well, and fluorescent lamps can simulate the ultraviolet spectrum of sunlight well. The tritium lamp can provide strong energy, which is generally used for accelerated aging tests.

Ozone Aging Test

Ozone is an extremely rare gas in the atmosphere, but it is extremely destructive to polymer materials. Ozone can have an irreversible chemical reaction with unsaturated bonds and reducing groups in the chemical structure of polymer materials, resulting in oxidative degradation of polymer materials, thus losing the use-value. Especially for rubber materials containing double bonds, it exhibits extremely strong destructive power.

Ozone has strong activity. It can decompose more active atomic oxygen and chemically react with the double bonds in the rubber molecule, causing rubber aging, crack, and become brittle.

The ozone aging test of polymer materials is usually carried out in an ozone aging test chamber. The ozone is provided by an ozone generator and its concentration can be adjusted by mixing with air with a mixer. The concentration of ozone is generally determined according to the environmental conditions in which the material is actually used.

In addition, the temperature, humidity, and other factors in the ozone aging chamber can also be adjusted to achieve the purpose of the test, and obtain the ozone aging resistance of the material and the behavior and law of ozone aging.

Hot Air Aging Test

Heat is one of the main factors that cause the aging of polymer materials. Heat can accelerate the movement of polymer chains, cause polymer chains to break, generate active free radicals, and cause free radical chain reactions to cause polymer degradation or exchange.

The hot air aging test is one of the main test methods for evaluating polymer materials and studying the aging resistance of polymer materials. It is usually carried out in a constant temperature blast drying test chamber.

The temperature in the drying oven can be set according to the test requirements. The polymer materials are regularly sampled and tested when exposed to dryness to obtain the aging behavior and laws of the polymer materials, so as to modify the polymer materials in a targeted manner and improve their performance.

Temperature Alternating Aging Test‍

Temperature is another important factor leading to the aging of polymer materials. For polymer adhesives, high temperature can accelerate the movement rate of the polymer adhesive chain, and low temperature can cause internal stress in the polymer adhesive. Alternation leads to chain scission of polymer adhesives and degradation and aging.

For rubber, high temperatures can accelerate the thermal movement of the molecular chain and Crosslink the rubber. Low temperature can cause the rubber molecular chain to freeze, making it brittle, decreasing its elasticity, and aging.

High and low temperature alternating aging test is an aging test method to evaluate the temperature resistance of polymer materials. It is usually carried out in a temperature alternating aging test chamber, from a certain temperature T1 (generally room temperature) to a certain temperature at a constant heating rate T2, maintain the temperature of T2 for a certain period of time, then reduce the temperature to a certain temperature T3 at a constant cooling rate, maintain the temperature of T3 for a certain period of time, and then increase to T1, which is a temperature cycle. The cycle length can be determined according to specific test requirements.

Damp Heat Aging Test

Damp heat aging test is an effective method to evaluate the aging resistance of polymer materials under high humidity and high temperature environment. In a high-humidity environment, water can penetrate into the polymer material, causing the polymer material to swell, and some of the hydrophilic groups are hydrolyzed, leading to aging and degradation of the polymer material.

In addition, the penetration of moisture into the polymer material can also cause the dissolution and migration of additives inside the polymer material, such as plasticizers, compounding agents, and other substances, and affect the mechanical properties of the polymer material.

Under the action of high heat, heat can promote the infiltration of water. Heat promotes the intensification of the movement of polymer chains, reduces the intermolecular force, promotes the infiltration of water, and accelerates the degradation of polymer materials.

Different polymer materials have different formulas, so their damp-heat aging mechanisms are also different. When the damp-heat aging test is carried out, different aging standards should be selected according to different polymer materials.

The damp heat aging test is usually carried out in the damp heat aging test chamber, and the temperature and humidity can be set according to the test requirements.

Medium Aging Test

Certain polymer materials need to be immersed in a certain medium for a long time during use. For example, polymer materials on equipment that have been engaged in marine operations or submarine operations for a long time must be immersed in seawater for a long time, and certain parts of aviation aircraft must be exposed to aviation for a long time. All these require that the high molecular materials have strong dielectric aging resistance.

The media aging test is a commonly used test method for evaluating the media aging resistance of polymer materials and predicting their life in a certain medium. The medium used in the aging test can be prepared according to the specific environment in which the polymer material is used. It can be artificial seawater, saltwater, rainwater, acid-base solutions, fuel oil, and other organic solvents.

References:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061819314503
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/organic-carbon
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/aging-temperature