Unveiling the Salt Spray Test: Can Your Product Truly Withstand Time and Corrosion?
Through this technology, we can predict the durability of products in real-world usage environments in advance and offer improvement suggestions to our customers. Energyfocus’ salt spray testing is not only a compliant test following international standards but also a reliable solution combining innovative technology and customer needs. Based on relevant standards like ISO 9227 and ASTM B-117, we use a neutral salt (sodium chloride NaCl) solution for testing, adjusting the solution to a pH of 6.5, and exposing the product to a stable salt spray environment (temperature 35±1°C) to simulate corrosive conditions that may be encountered in reality.
Working Principle and Setup of Salt Spray Testing
Correspondence Between Salt Spray Testing and Real Environmental Conditions
The number of days in a salt spray test reflects the potential durability of a product in real-world environments.
The following is a general conversion reference (based on the ASTM B-117 standard):
24 hours of salt spray testing ≈
120 days of coastal exposure or 1 year of natural exposure in the environment.
96 hours of salt spray testing ≈
480 days of coastal exposure or 4 years of natural exposure in the environment.
192 hours of salt spray testing ≈
960 days of coastal exposure or 8 years of natural exposure in the environment.
Test Process Overview
- Solution Preparation: We use sodium chloride (NaCl) to prepare a neutral salt solution and adjust the solution’s pH to 6.5 using a pH meter to ensure that the testing conditions meet the ISO standard for neutral salt spray.
- Stable Environment Creation: The salt spray chamber environment is kept stable, with the temperature controlled at 35°C. The humidity and salt mist distribution are uniform, simulating corrosion scenarios under different climate conditions.
- Performance Validation and Observation: After the test, we immediately conduct a visual inspection or functionality test on the product while also tracking long-term effects and analyzing the product’s corrosion resistance.
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Enhancing Product Competitiveness and Reducing Failure Risks
Salt spray testing offers customers multiple benefits. First, by simulating a product’s performance in real-world environments, companies can identify design flaws or manufacturing issues before mass production, significantly reducing the downstream costs caused by product failures. Second, salt spray testing helps improve material selection and process optimization. For example, by analyzing the test results, we can recommend more corrosion-resistant coating materials or packaging designs, fundamentally enhancing the product’s corrosion resistance. -
Real-World Application Case Studies
- An outdoor equipment company, after conducting a 72-hour salt spray test, found that the coating they were using showed significant corrosion. Based on the test results from Energyfocus, they adopted a new material with higher corrosion resistance, which performed excellently in subsequent tests and improved product quality.
- A component manufacturer optimized the material of their metal parts through salt spray testing, reducing quality issues by 23.6% and significantly lowering after-sales maintenance costs.
