Accelerated aging can be run with a designated time period ranging from one month to five years (or longer). The time of simulated aging depends on the temperature at which the products are held. Accelerated aging is optional; real-time aging is required when establishing an expiration date.
At 55 °C using an ambient temperature of 25°C, 6.5 weeks is equivalent to 1 year on-the-shelf. For example, at 55 °C, two years (using an ambient temperature of 25°C) would be equivalent to 13.0 weeks and five years would be 32.5 weeks.
After the samples have been aged, they are removed from the chamber and are brought back to room temperature. You may age as many samples as you need. The number of samples should be based on the testing to be performed after aging and the number of time periods to be examined during the age testing. Following the aging, the samples could be returned to you for further examination (such as functionality tests), or we will return the samples to perform additional testing here at Nelson Labs to confirm stability (package integrity/microbial aerosol barrier challenge, seal peel tests, other physical tests, etc).
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6 1/2 weeks at 55°C= 1 year of accelerated aging (using 25° C ambient temperature).