PSA D47 1020 Interior Material - Color Fastness to Water, Sea Water and Sweat

The standard “PSA D47 1020 Interior materials - Colour fastness to water, seawater and perspiration”, developed by the French automobile company Renault, describes a procedure for determining the colour resistance of materials or their interior parts to water, seawater and perspiration. This standard applies to materials such as textiles, textiles coated with plastics, leather, sheet plastics and plastic passenger compartment parts, whether or not decorated.

In principle, a test piece of the material to be tested and an undyed control woven fabric saturated with water, seawater or sweat are left in contact under pressure for a certain period of time. The test piece and the undyed control woven fabric are then dried. The deterioration of the test piece and the staining on the undyed control woven fabric are then assessed with a grey scale.

The equipment used in these tests includes:

• Rigid plates are glass or acrylic plastic plates measuring 115 mm plus/minus 1 mm x 60 mm plus/minus 1 mm.
• The testing apparatus used consists of a stainless steel frame with a base of 12,5 mm plus/minus 50 mm x 115 mm plus/minus 1 mm, into which a load of 60 N is placed so that a pressure of approximately 1 kPa is applied to the test tubes.
• Undyed control woven textiles. These can be wool and polyacrylic and polyester and polyamide, cotton and acetate, multifibre in the format (6 × 17 mm) × 40 mm or each of the same materials in the format 100 mm × 40 mm. Undyed control woven textiles should be plain woven and should not contain any finishes, residual chemicals, chemically damaged fibres or optical brighteners. Cotton should be bleached, other woven textiles should be cleaned without bleaching. The characteristics of multifibre control textiles are described as follows:
  • Wool control textile (NF ISO 105-F01
  • Polyacrylic control textile (NF G07-205)
  • Polyester control textile (NF G07-204)
  • Polyamide control textile (NF ISO 105-F03)
  • Cotton control textile (NF ISO 105-F02)
  • Acetate control textile (NF ISO 105-F07)
• Gray scale. With this device, the evaluation is done with the following two scales:
  • Damage defined according to the NF EN ISO 20105-A02 standard
  • Staining of undyed control woven textiles as defined in the NF EN ISO 20105-A03 standard
• The masks are used to assess colour contrast on test pieces. They are made of neutral grey (Renault specification) or black (PSA) cardboard, with windows measuring 30 mm plus/minus 1 mm x 30 mm plus/minus 1 mm (same dimensions as the grey scales) spaced 29 mm apart. The window area should be painted as close as possible to the colour of the viewing surface. Renault's grey scheme offers a reflection coefficient of 420 per cent in the 700-18 nm band.

The following equipment is also used in the tests:

• Ventilated oven (set at 37 degrees plus/minus 2 degrees)
• Balance (accurate to 0,1 g)
• Aluminum cups (must be degreased before use)
• Measured bottles (1 and 5 lt)
• Cutting tool (like scissors or cookie cutters)
• Solutions (demineralized or distilled water, sea water or basic sweat)
• Acidic sweat
• Sodium chloride (in powder form, used in the preparation of sea water, basic sweat and acidic sweat)
• Histidine monochlorhydrate (powdered, used in the preparation of basic sweat and acidic sweat)
• Sodium dihydrogenophosphate (powdered, used in the preparation of acidic sweat)
• Di-sodium hydrogenphosphate (powder used in the preparation of basic sweat)
• Sodium hydroxide (allows adjustment of pH value of solutions)

Seawater is a synthetic seawater solution containing 30 g/L sodium chloride, prepared from demineralized or distilled water. To prepare, weigh 30 g of NaCl in a previously degreased container. Place in a 1 L volumetric flask. Add demineralized or distilled water to the mark. Shake to make the solution homogeneous.

Basic sweat is a solution consisting of the following per liter of demineralized or distilled water (5 g sodium chloride, 1 g histidine monohydrochloride with 0,5 water molecule, 12 g di-sodium hydrogen phosphate with 5 water molecules). Using the scale, weigh 5 g of NaCl in a previously degreased container. Place it in a 1 L volumetric flask. Then weigh 0,5 g of histidine monohydrochloride and place it in a graduated flask. Finally, weigh 5 g of di-sodium hydrogen phosphate and place it in a graduated flask. Add demineralized or distilled water to the mark in the flask. Shake to make the solution homogeneous. If necessary, adjust the pH to 8 using a desinormal sodium hydroxide solution. This solution should be stored away from light.

Acidic sweat is a solution of the following per liter of demineralized or distilled water (5 g sodium chloride, 1 g histidine monohydrochloride with 0,5 water molecule, 2 g sodium dihydrogen phosphate with 2,2 water molecules). The following steps are the same as in the preparation of basic sweat.

Among the numerous tests, measurements, analyses and evaluation studies that our organization has carried out for businesses in various sectors, it also provides testing services defined in the “PSA D47 1020 Interior material - Color fastness to water, sea water and sweat” standard with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment.