AkzoNobel performs outdoor weathering tests on 100.000 metal panels coated with a wide variety of colours.
The international paints and coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel has recently unveiled its so-called ‘test fence’, an installation of around 100,000 metal panels measuring 10x20 centimetres (4x8 inches) in a facility located in Homestead (Florida, Unites States of America).
The globally recognised sprawling site run by Q-Lab is in fact employed by the company for performing outdoor weathering tests on panels coated with all manner of paint samples in a wide variety of colours which are often left out in the open for decades, so that they can be monitored and evaluated: as well as providing fundamental information for the development of such products, the site also helps the business to determine the warranties it offers – running for up to 40 years.
“The panels are being bombarded by everything the baking heat and unforgiving climate can throw at them, since in Florida it is very aggressive and there are a lot of moisture, heat and UV radiation – which are the drivers for the chemical reactions caused by the natural environmental degradation that we study over time,” has stated Brad Shreve, the head of the Building and Construction segment for the Coil and Extrusion Coatings division of AkzoNobel in North America. “The majority of our products are used for roofing: it means their entire service life is spent outdoors, exposed to the elements. We really have to understand how they perform in harsh environments before we can feel comfortable either launching new products or addressing our warranties for current solutions.”
Using Q-Lab as an independent third-party, the panels are assessed in intervals that can range from every six months to every five years. However, the Homestead test fence is just one of several facilities that the Coil and Extrusion Coatings business operates in the U.S.A.: as a matter of fact, the company also leverages a facility near Daytona Beach (Florida) – that is the most corrosive coastal environment in all North America – and another one in Phoenix (Arizona).
“All our customers really want to know is how our paint is going to perform over a long period of time, and that is directly related to the work we are doing at the test fence. It is even written into a lot of customer specifications that a coating needs to have been successfully tested in South Florida,” has added Shreve.