Polypropylene expansion tanks have been subjected to accelerated weathering testing according to the developed procedure of accelerated weathering testing. The objective of the study was to determine an arbitrary lifetime of tanks under operating conditions at higher temperatures, humidity, and UV radiation (climate regions of India and Venezuela). As a result of the studies of the polypropylene expansion tanks the following has been established: the failure of the both tank types (A and B) occurred in the area of the weld in the upper and lower part after four arbitrary years of accelerated weathering testing; the stress-strain behaviour in the outer tank walls is influenced by the interior structure of the partitions. The tanks with a larger opening in the partitions feature significant deformations when the inner pressure increases as a result of a higher temperature; the “sensitive indicators” of ageing and failure of the tank material have been found: elongation at break, flexural modulus, and impact strength.
Ageing and failure of materials, products, and structures when exposed to operational factors, including climatic ones, cause significant losses for the economies of different countries. Ageing of a material under operation conditions in different climate regions or storage conditions is a result of a wide range of chemical and physical conversions that occur in complex multiple component systems. This paper addresses to the development of accelerated weather testing procedure for polypropylene expansion tanks, which are a part of an engine cooling system in KAMAZ vehicle. The operating conditions of expansion tanks were analyzed, and the primary factors and their energy values, responsible for their ageing and failure, were determined. The chart of operating conditions was made for expansion tanks. The accelerated weather testing procedure was developed for materials of expansion tanks for the climate regions of India and Venezuela. The requirements were specified for equipment and samples for accelerated weather testing of polypropylene expansion tank materials.
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