Correlation of long-duration exposure and accelerated testing of protected silver mirrors.

The stability of two types of protected silver mirrors was studied by long-term exposure in a clean-room laboratory and mixed-flowing-gas (MFG) accelerated environmental test with two different gas concentrations. The two types of mirrors behaved very differently when exposed to the clean-room air for six years. The mirrors subjected to a reduced Battelle Class II MFG test protocol for 10 days exhibited similar corrosion mechanisms to those exposed to the clean-room air. With further testing of silver mirrors in both field exposures and MFG test conditions, it is feasible that the MFG-accelerated test method can be developed to quantitatively assess the durability of protected silver mirrors in ambient applications.