Local environmental testing labs are very important when it comes to environmental testing. Environmental testing is the testing of a product to the limits of possible use and storage environment. It is sometimes considered a subset of DVT. However, with a lot of products, the environment is complex and varied enough that the two activities are often treated separately. The analysis of the environment involves analyzing specific areas of products that don’t meet their environmental specifications and methods for mitigating the problem.

Situation

It is important for a product to operate in a wide range of environments, both operational and storage. During the design phase, analysis can be done to determine the ability of a product to meet each of the environments. During the testing, the product is often taken through each of the tests. If products do not meet a certain specification, the operations of the product are deemed not sufficient. The failure must be properly analyzed and it is crucial for the product to be made robust.

Value to your organization

Before shipping a product, it must meet all its environmental specifications and there should be sufficient margin in the product to be able to deal with sample variations, varied customer use of the environments, and degradations over time. For any issues that exist, the earlier they are found, the cheaper the fix will be.

Methodology

During environmental testing, the environmental engineers start with the speciation document and write a test plan to test every requirement called out in the document. The testing takes place before the test diagnostics are written. This means that special software should be written oftentimes or special test equipment should be used to assure that the product is tested as much as possible.

Outsourcing testing

When it comes to outsourcing a testing lab, it is important to do your research and compare several labs. Choosing labs is a matter of matching the test equipment needs, budget, and schedule. You should compare pricing from different labs and choose the best lab that meets your budget.

Fungus testing

This type of testing helps assess if a material or component will support the growth of fungus. If the material supports fungal growth, then the next step is to determine if fungus will be detrimental to the product. During the assessment of parameters, industry standards must apply.

It is crucial to ensure that testing is conducted to prevent the fungus from breaking down different materials and using them as nutrients. Although the material may be resistant to fungus, external contamination may support the growth of fungi that detriment the material. There are also some aesthetic factors and health concerns as to why fungi testing is common.

Local environmental testing labs that test fungus have the required test fungus, the appropriate controls, incubation chamber and sensors depending on the test material or method. Proper cleaning of the chamber is important before and after testing. Controlling humidity and temperature is also important for proper incubation. Manufacturers of general-purpose materials should have their products tested for the growth of fungus.