UV Degradation Life Estimator

UV degradation isn't one effect but several compounding ones, and this calculator builds an estimated outdoor service life by starting from a base life for the chosen resin (measured in years, unstabilized, at moderate UV and a 3mm wall — PP sits at just 2 years due to its notorious UV sensitivity, while fluoropolymer PVDF sits at 30) and then multiplying that base by a stack of independent factors: a stabilizer multiplier (HALS/UVA additive loading can add 2-5x life), a pigment multiplier (carbon black is a strong physical UV blocker worth roughly 3x, TiO2 reflects UV and is worth about 1.5x), a UV-exposure multiplier normalized around a UV index of 6 (so a tropical installation at index 12 effectively halves life relative to a temperate one), a thickness multiplier (thicker sections degrade more slowly through the cross-section, scaled as the square root of thickness), and a temperature multiplier built on an Arrhenius-style assumption that degradation rate roughly doubles for every 10°C above 25°C average service temperature. From that final estimated life, the tool derives a more conservative "50% property retention" figure (assumed at 70% of the full estimated life) and models tensile strength retention over time as simple exponential decay anchored to that half-life, plus a rough 0-100 yellowing index driven by material-specific yellowing tendency (PC and ABS yellow readily; ASA and PVDF resist it) scaled by UV exposure.

This is a screening tool, not a warranty prediction: real-world outdoor life also depends on humidity, pollution, mechanical loading, and specific formulation details this simplified multiplicative model can't capture.