This paper discusses the experimental design and the preliminary findings of an ongoing project designed to establish an accelerated laboratory test that would rank coating system performance the same as their performance in atmospheric exposure. A total of ten materials are included in the program: four substrates each with two coating systems and one substrate with two additional coating systems. Samples were installed at four atmospheric exposure sites: Middletown, OH, Daytona Beach, FL, Monroeville, PA, and Halifax, NS, Canada. Three different orientations were utilized at each of the exposure sites and a variety of building panel features were included on the test panels (roll formed bends, laps, cut drip edges, standing seam closures, and scribes). The work discussed in this paper includes the program design and implementation and preliminary correlation\u27s of the three-year atmospheric exposure results to several standard accelerated test methods including: ASTM B117, ASTM G85, ASTM G87, and GM 9540
