Back in June I posted in this blog about the test I was planning to start with the goal of analysing mid- and long-term luminous performance of glowing granules from the manufacturer Nanjing Feeling Rubber.
Three months of testing have now passed, and this article will explain you my first impressions after this short period.
The objective was not to carry out a laboratory test under strict technical and scientific control conditions or with luminosity measurements. The idea was just to do a user evaluation, certainly somewhat subjective, on the glowing behaviour that the granules show during the night hours, after maintaining the light and dark regimes more or less constantly. I was testing ones that according to the manufacturer are harder and can keep glowing effect for a longer time of about 12 hours after only 30 minutes absorbing light.
The way I have performed so far the test is as follows:
- Simulate a regime of light and dark hours like that of a real outdoor installation during summer and winter in a geographical location in the northern hemisphere such as Barcelona, where I am living.
In the period from June to the end of August this has represented an average regime of about 13/15 hours of sunlight of different intensity during the day and darkness of 9-11 hours. - Granule samples of 3 different colour have been kept under this light regime: BLUE, GREEN and TEAL.
- I kept the granules under a film of transparent polycarbonate to avoid dust effects that would potentially reduce luminosity of the granules and the duration of the glowing effect. I cleaned the protective film at least once per week.
- Observation of the samples have been done near every day two times during the night approximately 5 hours and 8 hours after full darkness. I must admit that a few days I have not heard the alarm clock or was unable to get up from bed to make some of the observations. Unfortunately, I lack the knowledge on photography to show the evidence of the observations as pictures of glowing in the dark are somewhat difficult to get without professional photography experience and hardware.
My first three months impressions:
- 1 – In this period of 3 months I did not notice any fading or reduction on luminosity on the glowing effect.
- 2 – There is a significant reduction of the luminosity after 8 hours of darkness compared to the observation after 5 hours.
- 3 – After 8 hours is also difficult to appreciate the colour difference between the three colour samples that was easy to tell apart on the first observation after 5 hours of darkness. You can still notice glowing but not fully identify the initial colours. They look very similar.
I will continue the test process during fall and winter as the intention is to identify the life span of the glowing effect. Obviously the regimes of light and darkness will be different. I’ll keep you on the loop.
Take care
Rubberman Blog 