Room: DP318
Contact person: Ondřej Dvořák
In the laboratory, it is possible to subject samples of various materials to artificial accelerated aging. Test chambers are available that can simulate the loading of materials on the exterior and interior. At the same time, it is possible to increase the intensity of incident radiation and adjust the number of cycles of individual stress types.
Test chambers make it possible to program illumination with discharge lamps producing radiation of different wavelengths, spraying with demineralized water, temperature, and air humidity. The increased intensity and increase in the number of cyclic changes accelerates the aging of material surfaces, and thus it is possible to predict their load in real conditions, but in a much shorter time. In some cases, the tests are supplemented by cyclic stressing in an air-conditioning chamber, which allows a temperature of up to -30°C to be reached.
In the laboratory, various coating systems on wood are tested, as well as surface hydrophobization treatments of concrete, plastics, coatings on metals, and other building materials that are exposed to the effects of weather. In the research area, they are mainly intended for the selection of the best coatings on wood, which are subsequently exposed to natural aging on the roof of the FLD Pavilion of Wood Sciences.
A Krüs goniometer and a confocal laser microscope LEXT OLS 4200 are used to evaluate changes in the hydrophobicity of surfaces. Gloss, colour change, adhesion, coating hardness, etc. are evaluated precisely.
