Attendees at Q-Lab Corp.’s Oct. 30 Automotive Weathering Technology Symposium took away timely information about testing procedures, correlation, and materials science relevant to their industry. The event, sixth in Q-Lab’s series of international automotive weathering symposia, attracted 45 automotive OEMs and suppliers with positions in R&D, quality control, and senior management to the Hyatt Regency Dearborn, MI.

Attendees at Q-Lab Corp.’s Oct. 30 Automotive Weathering Technology Symposium took away timely information about testing procedures, correlation, and materials science relevant to their industry. The event, sixth in Q-Lab’s series of international automotive weathering symposia, attracted 45 automotive OEMs and suppliers with positions in R&D, quality control, and senior management to the Hyatt Regency Dearborn, MI.

Scientists Dr. Michael Diebold (DuPont), Ellen Phillips (Diamond Polymers) and Kurt Davidson (Ciba Specialty Chemicals) shared information about advanced materials with improved appearance properties and weatherability. Diebold illustrated photo-degradation and gloss retention variability in TiO2 pigments. Phillips focused on the effect of color and UV stabilizers on ABS and ASA polymers. Davidson talked about new light stabilizers that can be used for low VOC, high performance coatings.

Several speakers presented different perspectives on how natural outdoor exposures in southern Florida and accelerated weathering can be used most effectively to improve product reliability and performance.

Michael Crewdson (Q-Lab) cautioned the audience not to rely solely on accelerated testing. Warren Ketola (WK Weathering Consulting) reminded listeners that accelerated test duration is material-dependent - that there is not a universal equation for how many hours in a xenon tester equals Florida exposures. His presentation gave insights about acceleration factors, comparative testing, and confidence plots.

John Boisseau (BASF) discussed new developments in acid etch testing for automotive clearcoats. Years of collaborative research have produced an accelerated Q-Sun acid etch test cycle with proven correlation to Jacksonville, Florida outdoor test results. Recently this method became ASTM D7356.

Presenter Jeffrey Quill (Q-Lab), co-author of a correlation study about SAE’s xenon arc test methods, reminded the audience that SAE J1960 and J1885 will officially be obsolete in January 2008, and explained that there is good correlation between the new performance-based and the old hardware-based methods. He answered questions from those who would be affected by the test method update.

Previous Q-Lab technical symposia have been held in several automotive industry centers around the world, including China, India and Mexico. The conferences provide an educational forum for attendees throughout the automotive industry to share ideas and learn about advanced weathering research covering both exterior and interior applications.

For more information, contact Q-Lab Corp. at info@q-lab.com.