Small-scale stress mapping in test chambers for combined climatic and pollution testing (glass sensor study)

Testing equipment for the combined testing of materials or technical products under defined climatic stresses and increased levels of gaseous pollutants are applied in industrial quality control as well as research to study the interaction of surfaces or component parts with relevant atmospheres. For these purposes a homogenous distribution of the "total stress potential" (governed by thesynergetic influence of temperature, moisture and pollutants) within the test chamber is of major importance. Effects at the test speciem should clearly be correlated to the individual properties of thesample and must not be due to local variations of the test atmosphere. Therefore a pilot study was designed to clearify the performance of a typical laboratory climatic test cabinet in respact to local inhomogeneities of the corrosive stress. Corrosive sensitive material was used to detect the local stress distribution (dosimeter principle).