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Salt spray test hours vs. life expectancy

2003

About your experience there is same data about resistance to salt spray test hours in real life for example PVD on brass handle is more or less 1500-2000 h .How many years in real life? and zamak, or Iron ?

Thank you very much.

Stefano Peli
locks - Brescia, Italy

Hi Stefano,

There is no correlation between salt spray exposure time and real-world corrosion. The purpose of the salt spray test (ASTM B117) is to obtain information about relative corrosion protection.

George Gorecki
- Naperville, Illinois
2003

To further clarify George's good answer, salt spray testing is primarily for ongoing QA -- to make sure that the process has not gone south, but is continuing to function the way it was designed. The theory being that if a process has been developed that offers acceptable real-world life, while offering X hours of salt spray life, if it stops offering X hours of salt spray life something is probably wrong that will also affect the real-world life.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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