Does correlation exist between accelerated and conventional outdoor exposures ?

Long before he realized the importance of his discovery man was using coatings to tell a story or make his surroundings more attractive. Weatherability wasn't important as coatings primarily were used indoors for decorative purposes and natural building materials such as stone and wood were used in construction. As technology advanced and simpler, less expensive building materials and techniques were developed, so advanced the coating industry. The complexity of modern man evolved at a staggering pace and resulted in his demands for a rainbow of durable colours for use in a variety of material applications. I have not been able to determine from existing literature just when the first coatings were intentionally tested for weatherability, however, a study published in 1951 was entitled “50 Years of Paint Testing”. Because of the need for independent laboratory test results commercial test facilities such as South Florida Test Services in Miami and DSET Laboratories, Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona, emerged to fill the requirements.