Outdoor and accelerated weathering of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene : a correlation study

The influence of outdoor and accelerated weathering conditions on the photo-oxidative degradation of stabilized acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) was investigated, aiming to establish a correlation between both weathering types. ABS samples containing combinations of light stabilizers (ultraviolet absorbers e UVA and hindered amine light stabilizers e HALS) and antioxidants were prepared by melt compounding, exposed to different weathering conditions and characterized by infrared spectroscopy and quasi-static measure ments. The results obtained by infrared spectroscopy and quasi-static measurements are in good agreement, showing that the Q-Sun Xe-3-Hs resembles the outdoor weathering phenomena. Applying a shift factor of 0.85 MJ m 2 to the abscissa axis, it was found that the exposure of stabilized ABS samples to ca. 1260 h in Q-Sun Xe-3-Hs induces changes in its mechanical performance, which corresponds to one year of outdoor exposure at LisbonThe authors would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) for the PhD grant SFRH/BDE/15657/2007, PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011, CQ/UM- PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2011 and Poliversal - Plasticos e Tecnologia, S.A