Which lamps should I choose for UV accelerated aging test?

    Your material's end-use conditions determine which type of UV lamp you should use. All UV lamps emit mainly ultraviolet light, not visible or infrared light. The power of the UV lamp is equivalent to an ordinary 40-watt fluorescent lamp. However, the total UV energy emitted by each different type of lamp is different, and the spectral distribution is also different. UV lamps can generally be divided into UVA and UVB, depending on the region where most of the output spectrum is located.

UVA lamps

    UVA lamps are particularly useful for comparative testing of different types of polymers, as UVA lamps do not contain any ultra-short UV light below the 295nm cut-off point of sunlight. It destroys materials slower than UVB lamps. However, it correlated better with outdoor exposure results.

UVA 340 Tube

    UVA-340 best simulates sunlight from 365nm to the cutoff point of 295nm in the critical UV short wavelength region. It peaks at 340nm. UVA-340 is especially useful for comparative testing of different compositions

UVA-340 lamps can best simulate the short-wave UV spectrum.

UVA-351 simulates the ultraviolet portion of sunlight passing through window glass. Suitable for aging tests of interior products such as certain inks and polymeric materials placed adjacent to windows.

UVB lamp

UVB lamps emit the shortest wavelengths of sunlight available on the Earth's surface. Therefore, fluorescent UVB lamps are widely used in QC and R&D departments for faster testing. Since all UVB lamps emit non-naturally occurring ultraviolet short wavelengths below 295nm of the dead center of sunlight, there may be different results from actual conditions.

UVB-313, more suitable for QC and R&D applications and testing of durable materials.