State-of-the-art methods for testing materials outdoors

Abstract

In recent years, computers, sensors, microelectronics, and communication technologies have made it possible to automate the way materials are tested in the field. It is now possible to purchase monitoring equipment to measure weather and materials properties. The measurement of materials response often requires innovative approaches and added expense, but the instrumentation vastly improves the quantity and quality of the data that can be obtained. Data on weather and materials can be linked to a computer system, either at the field site or through a communications link back to the laboratory. Collecting materials response and weather data every few minutes during exposure gives a complete history of specimens during the exposure. As a specimen degrades, the degradation can be linked to the conditions causing the degradation. The ways in which field tests are automated are probably limited more by tradition and lack of imagination than by technology to do the measurements.

Citation

Williams, R. Sam. 2004. State-of-the-art methods for testing materials outdoors. IUFRO Working Party 5-04.12 3rd International Symposium on Surfacing and Finishing of Wood : 2004 November 24-26, Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto, Japan : IUFRO, 2004: pages 61-73.