The effect of different variables on the accelerated and natural weathering of agricultural films

Lifetimes required for greenhouse cover films depend heavily on the country, especially the tradition in the country. They vary from one agricultural season (i.e. 6-9 months) to several years and are strongly dependent on the use of pesticides which destroy the photostabilisers (HALS and nickel quenchers) and on other geographic and climatic factors (solar irradiation, temperature, winds, etc.).In this work, we have measured the duration of four real agricultural films using the European Standard EN 13206:2001 conditions for the accelerated weathering test and the results have been compared to their duration under accelerated weathering using more aggressive conditions (pesticide spraying, different chamber temperatures) and under natural weathering. We have also explored the effect of the backing material in the artificial weathering test and of the starting date in the natural weathering. The final goal of this study is to obtain good correlations between accelerated weathering, natural weathering at defined, controlled conditions and weathering in real-use conditions for agricultural films.