A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF WEATHERING TESTING USING MALAYSIAN TROPICAL TIMBER

History of accelerated weathering testing as a tool to explain the nature of weathering with a faster outcome has been documented since the 1940s. There are various method applied as accelerated weathering testing, i.e., cyclic boil-dry test, automatic boil test and QUV instrument. One of the recently conducted worldwide in accelerated weathering testing was QUV accelerated weathering. QUV instrument gives information about how materials degrade to the extended exposure environment within a reasonable time frame. Furthermore, QUV instrument employs the wavelength simulating with real-life solar radiation. Thus, applications of accelerated weathering testing in timber industry really give fast response to manufacturer in improving their timber product for long term usage. The conceptual review has studied on the application of QUV instrument in the accelerated weathering testing since 1997 till 2014. Accelerated weathering testing as a simulation of natural weathering was used in determining the long-term serviceability of Malaysian tropical timber in the extended environmental exposure.