Environmental Testing

AAC offers tests of coating properties, tailored towards the demands of the aviation industry. These tests simulate the ageing of exterior coatings in the aviation sector and include liquid immersion into aircraft fluids, influence of environmental, and in-service conditions.

Properties that can be determined include:

Layer thickness, roughness, contact angle, roll-off angle, surface energy, adhesion to substrate and ice adhesion.

The ice adhesion properties are measured with a laboratory test rig, which determines the ice adhesion shear force parallel to the sample surface. Measurements can be conducted rapidly and can assist the development process of anti-icing coatings. These measurements are fast and cost saving compared to more complex tests in climate wind tunnels. They are especially suitable for screening of different coating formulations or for determination of anti-icing properties after environmental testing.

Environmental UV tests are performed in Q-Lab QUV accelerated weathering tester, and a Q-Lab Q-Sun Xe-3 Xenon test chamber. Different test standards can be selected according to customer needs.

Immersion tests are conducted with hydraulic fluid, solvents, de-icing fluid, water and cleaner solutions by fully immersing test coupons into the respective liquids.

Thermal cycling is conducted in a climate chamber. The lowest achievable temperature is -40°C. Samples can be monitored with individual thermo-sensors.