TESTING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS WITH ACE LABORATORIES ENSURES AN ECO-FRIENDLY AND ECO-FUNCTIONING FUTURE
ACE Laboratory strives to provide businesses with the framework and resources to make environmentally sustainable products and green choices. While we do not test to determine whether or not your product is environmentally friendly or ecologically safe, we can help determine whether or not your planet-saving sustainable product can perform as intended and is ready for distribution.
This blog post highlights the importance of creating sustainable products and ensuring they can help save the world.
TYPES OF TESTING AVAILABLE
ACE Laboratories has the facilities to provide a variety of testing across various distinctions of polymer and rubber-based products. However, when considering sustainable product testing, the four most relevant would be physical, analytical, construction, and processing-based tests.
PHYSICAL
Even though environmentally sustainable products may prove the main focus of your product, your product must meet other industry performance standards. Our physical testing will help determine the durability, composition, performance, and other manufacturing necessities. A few tests we could perform to ensure the success of your enterprise consist of abrasion resistance testing, durometer, flammability, compression set, tensile testing, and many others.
ANALYTICAL
Analytical testing allows a better understanding of the consistency of sustainable products. One of the concerns with using recycled and sustainable materials in rubber compounds has been the consistency of the raw materials. One challenge for new, sustainably sourced materials is production (volume able to be produced) and commercialization (price/cost) of the raw materials. For recycled materials, the waste streams used can have a huge impact on the final properties of the material. The analytical team at ACE can examine chemical makeup using chromatography, moisture analysis, wet chemistry, and other tests to ensure your recycled and sustainable materials maintain consistency from lot to lot or batch to batch.
CONSTRUCTION
ACE believes in a holistic approach to sustainability. That means not only do we want to help you verify the performance of the sustainable materials you are using or are desiring to switch, but we can also help you evaluate the energy efficiency, weatherability of your construction materials. Coatings, roofing components, crack sealants, and many other construction materials are exposed to the natural elements and can be susceptible to degradation from things such as ultraviolet light (UV), ozone, heat, moisture, etc. A material that can resist these conditions has a longer life span and is more environmentally friendly than a material that must be continuously replaced. ACE’s construction segment offers solar reflectance testing, UV and xenon weathering, low-temperature testing, Cool Roof Rating Council validation testing, and many other application-specific tests to help ensure your materials can stand the test of time.
PROCESSING
As sustainable products become more desired, and in light of the previously mentioned concerns around consistent production and commercialization of those raw materials, it may lead to tighter manufacturing deadlines and the need for more robust or more tightly controlled manufacturing processes. As a result, understanding the processing characteristics of your rubber, silicone, or plastic compounds will aid clients with troubleshooting various challenges that the further evolution of the sustainable material revolution will require as time progresses. With equipment such as our Rubber Process Analyzer (RPA), Capillary Rheometer, Mooney Viscometer, lab extruder, spider flow mold, and more, ACE is ready to assist you in characterizing the processability of your materials.
HOW ACE CONTRIBUTES TO SUSTAINABILITY
As mentioned in earlier articles, ACE Laboratories believes in utilizing the best testing equipment and employing top-notch technical personnel. While ACE specializes in delivering high-quality testing procedures and results for polymer, silicone, and rubber products, it does not contribute directly to testing the ecological effects of those materials on the environment. We leave that to other laboratories better qualified for this task. ACE Laboratories contributes by aiding our customers in ensuring that their sustainable products perform as intended. Need the polymers in your products tested? Reach out to ACE Laboratories today.