Developed by TESLA, an American company that designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, the “TESLA TP-0000703 Chemical resistance of surfaces” standard provides automotive suppliers with a wide range of approved methods and procedures for resistance testing of plastics, add-on parts, seats, carpets and other textile products. . Test conditions include mechanical-chemical stress, mechanical-dynamic stress and chemical resistance tests.
Surfaces in the automotive industry are very diverse and subject to different stresses. Resistance testing of plastic surfaces mainly includes:
Chemical resistance refers to the ability of materials to withstand different types of chemicals. It therefore defines the capacity of a material to resist destructive processes triggered by reactions between the environment and the surface.
Exposure of a material to chemicals or inadequate chemical resistance can cause corrosion and accelerate the breakage of the material. For components or machines made from this material, this has a negative impact on their service life or can lead to their failure.
In this case, a distinction is generally made between three basic categories:
Corrosion performance is affected by many factors. Increased temperatures, higher concentrations, and accidental ingress of water into originally pure chemicals can cause accelerated corrosion. Depending on the purity of the fluid as well as the composition of the seal materials and the nature of their vulcanization, deviations may occur that affect the suitability and durability of plastics and elastomers. Vulcanization is a chemical technique method. This method is the process of converting rubber or similar polymers into more durable materials by adding sulfur or other equivalent sulfurizers.
Chemical resistance is defined as the ability of a substance to withstand chemical attack over a period of time. Therefore, materials with high chemical resistance are less likely to corrode.
Highly chemically resistant materials are considered functional for corrosion resistant materials due to their resistance to chemical activity. Chemical resistance also affects physicochemical properties. The weakening of the mechanical strength of a polymer with low chemical resistance results in blistering, swelling and inhomogeneity of the surface of the material, thus losing the functional properties of the polymer. The main factors affecting chemical resistance include the molecular structure of the polymer, mechanical load, type of additive, concentration of solvent and chemical reagent, exposure time and temperature.
Chemical resistance is one of the important tests for composites. A typical chemical resistance test requires exposing a sample to different chemicals and then measuring the weight change. Depending on their chemical structure, unsaturated polyester resins have limited chemical resistance due to having many reactive sites. However, the composites have sufficient chemical resistance that provides composite resistance to chemical penetration due to good bonding between the filler and the matrix.
In short, chemical resistance testing on plastic automotive materials is crucial to measure how such parts withstand the impact of often aggressive automotive fluids such as fuels, biofuels, cleaners, coolants and lubricants, often combined with high temperature fluctuations.
Among the numerous testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies provided to businesses by our organization, there are also testing services in accordance with the "TESLA TP-0000703 Chemical resistance of surfaces" standard.
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