All materials and assemblies used in industrial, commercial, and consumer products applications should be tested to establish real-world durability and esthetic benchmarks. Major applications categories serviced by Caron chambers include, but are not limited to:
- Concrete freeze/thaw
- Asphalt freeze/thaw
- Cardboard/paper conditioning & life testing
- Paint & coatings life testing
- Plastics life testing
- Adhesives conditioning & life testing
- Upholstery conditioning
Testing may either be conducted outside, in controlled environment rooms, or in reach-in chambers. Testing outdoors is the least expensive, but cannot be controlled or accelerated. Room testing is highly controlled, but is less flexible for small batches or parallel evaluation of multiple parameters.
To assure consistent and meaningful results, test chambers need to feature tight parameter control, uniformity and stability over long periods of time. Depending on test selected, parameters may include sub-ambient or elevated temperature, elevated humidity, and both visible and UV-spectrum light. Durability is also essential for test chambers, since these units are expected to run continually for years.
Unlike pharmaceutical or biomedical test protocols, which are typically developed as part of government health and safety regulation, general material and product testing is typically conducted using third-party private-sector test protocols, which are generally only available on a fee basis.
