This section provides an overview for salt fog & spray testers as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 6 salt fog & spray tester manufacturers and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked salt fog & spray tester companies as of November, 2024: 1.Auto Technology Company, 2.Qualitest International Inc., 3.ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS.
Table of Contents
A salt spray tester is an experimental device used to perform salt spray tests on metal materials, parts, and products that have been plated, painted, or otherwise coated.
Using the salt spray tester creates an atmospheric environment of a specific temperature and humidity, including salt in the space inside the tester, defined by industrial standards such as ISO. The process of corrosion is checked by placing a test specimen in this test environment.
The salt spray tester is a specialized testing device for salt spray testing. The main test objects for the salt spray test are metallic materials, plated or painted coatings, and products coated with these coatings.
Industrial standards require evaluation using test specimens of a specified size, but in product development and quality control, actual products are used for testing. Specific uses of salt spray testers are as follows:
Salt spray testers are used in the automotive field to evaluate the corrosion resistance of plated and surface-treated parts. Specifically, it assesses the corrosion resistance of screw parts, various bracket parts, and transmission oil pans.
Especially in regions with heavy snowfall, the snow-melting salt sprinkled on roads to melt snow can cause significant corrosion on automobile exteriors and suspension parts. Salt spray tests evaluate corrosion resistance to such external environments.
The architectural field evaluates corrosion resistance to natural environments such as wind and rain. For example, in coastal areas with strong sea breezes, metal houses' parts will rust relatively quickly.
It is not uncommon to see rust on tin sheets used for roofs and walls of old houses and on storage sheds for general household use. The salt spray test checks how long it takes for such rust to form.
In the salt fog & spray tester, the test object is placed in the instrument's chamber, and an acidic solution that promotes corrosion is misted into the chamber and continuously sprayed on the sample. The acidic solutions include sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride. The solution is spread evenly over the test sample by misting the acidic solution, and corrosion can be promoted without local bias.
Salt spray testers maintain and control the atmospheric environment to meet the specified conditions.
When evaluating salt spray testing on products, it is also essential to clearly define the occurrence of rust. Evaluation is carried out by periodically checking the test products visually or otherwise for the presence or absence of rust. Salt spray test equipment is a device that creates a test environment and cannot detect or determine the occurrence of rust.
In industrial standards, rust is determined as a percentage of the surface area using a test piece of a specified size to determine that rust has occurred. Therefore, when conducting tests on actual products, it is essential to agree in advance with the companies concerned on "which condition is judged as rusting" and "the area where rust is generated and the percentage of surface area."
Furthermore, in the case of plating that prevents rusting of the base metal by self-sacrifice, such as galvanizing, red rust, which indicates that the base metal has rusted, usually occurs after white rust, which is self-sacrifice. For this reason, salt spray tests are also evaluated based on the time taken for both white and red rust to occur. For example, white rust must not appear within 72 hours, red rust within 240 hours, etc. Two evaluation criteria are used in operation.
The salt spray test verifies the quality of plating, coating, and industrial products to prevent rust from occurring in the daily environment where they are used as products. It is one of the accelerated tests to evaluate corrosion resistance in terms of time, which is required in years. However, various industrial standards do not specify the correlation between natural and test environments.
Each product manufacturer has its standard for the correlation between the test time of the salt spray test and the amount of elapsed time in the natural environment. Test methods and conditions follow various industrial standards, and each company or industry defines the evaluation time under the specified conditions.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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Auto Technology Company, started in 1940, is a manufacturer of environmental corrosion testing and metal finishing equipment in Strongsville, OH, USA. The company creates test salt fog corrosion-testing chambers, spray chambers, immersion equipment, mixed flow gas chambers, and multi-gas test chambers for use in automotive, industrial, oil, and military sectors. The company has an in-house contract test laboratory, providing corrosion and environmental testing services as well as hot and cold cycling capabilities under A2LA-accreditation, which is in compliance with ISO guide 17025.
Qualitest International Inc., founded in 1999, is a supplier of testing equipment such as hardness testers, material testing equipment, universal testing machines, and instruments for testing rubber, metals, paper, plastic, paint, and packaging materials used in the gold and jewelry, mining, oil and gas, surveying, and ultrasonic industries. The Lauderdale, Florida-based business offers technical support, calibration, and repair either directly or through the global QualiService authorized network. The company has an online store with international shipping.
Xi'an LIB Environmental Simulation Industry, a Chinese manufacturer and exporter, specializes in climatic test chambers. With a decade of experience, it has been delivering products globally since 2009. Its portfolio includes temperature and climate test chambers, corrosion chambers, weathering testers, and more. Serving industries, laboratories, and research institutions worldwide, the company is active in markets across the USA, Canada, Brazil, and beyond. Notable clients such as Intel and IBM rely on its test chambers for research, testing, and calibration purposes.
Associated Environmental Systems, founded in 1959 with headquarters in the USA, is a manufacturer of testing chambers, assemblies, and components. The company's product line includes benchtop temperature testing chambers, liquid-cooled ovens, laboratory ovens, and environmental walk-in test chambers. Associated Environmental Systems' products are used by laboratories and manufacturers that need to test or store materials or products in a constant environment. The company's steady-state chambers are configured to meet governmental regulations and test requirements in industries such as electronics, healthcare, food and beverage, packaging, life science, and more.
Lisun Instruments Ltd. is based in Shanghai, China, and is a manufacturer of lighting and electrical test instruments that was founded as a subsidiary of LISUN GROUP in 2003. The company designs and produces instruments used to test light and electrical factors in various environments. These include salt spray test chambers, devices for testing electromagnetic compatibility or immunity, and spectroradiometers for measuring the colorimetric parameters of light sources. The company serves a wide range of clients including mobile network operators, lighting device designers, and home appliance manufacturers.
Ranking as of November 2024
Derivation MethodRank | Company | Click Share |
---|---|---|
1 | Auto Technology Company |
25.0%
|
2 | Qualitest International Inc. |
25.0%
|
3 | ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS |
16.7%
|
4 | Xi’an LIB Environmental Simulation Industry |
11.1%
|
5 | LISUN INSTRUMENTS LIMITED |
11.1%
|
6 | Ascott Analytical Equipment |
11.1%
|
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the salt fog & spray tester page as of November 2024. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
Company with a History
*Including some distributors, etc.
*Including some distributors, etc.
Country | Number of Companies | Share (%) |
---|---|---|
United States of America | 2 | 66.7% |
China | 1 | 33.3% |