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Competitive Advantage Of Wear Testing
2019/07/05
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Consumers have an expectation of product performance. Regardless of whether an item is purchased for home or commercial use, one key consideration involves quality and durability. How long a product lasts before it wears out is an essential part of this perceived quality.
Most consumers are willing to pay a premium for a product that delivers higher quality. In fact, product durability offers a competitive advantage that many brand images are built on. Utilizing benchmarking techniques, manufacturers are able to adjust formulations to improve and maximize performance. Often, this is at a fraction of the cost for associated warranty claims.
What if the product does not deliver as expected? Typically, consumer satisfaction drops and they look for other alternatives. This is important to note, because in today’s competitive environment most manufacturers put significant efforts into minimizing production costs to remain competitive. These efforts might involve changing material suppliers or specifying a different type of protective coating. Unfortunately, changes are often made with little consideration given to how they affect product performance. Accelerated wear testing is a critical factor that is often overlooked when these decisions are made.
Test Procedure:
The haze or original weight of test specimen is measured. The test specimen is then placed on the abrasion tester. A 250, 500, or 1000-gram load is placed on top of the abrader wheel and allowed to spin for a specified number of revolutions. Different abrading wheels are specified. A haze measurement or final weight is taken. The load and wheel can be adjusted for softer and harder materials.
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