UV LED to Lighten Color-Anodized Aluminum Pieces

I'm planning to make an enclosed UV light exposure box for white "yellowed" sneaker soles and to lighten color-anodized aluminum pieces. Are your UV LED lights capable of handling these tasks? If so, which UV wavelength would be best to use: 365nm or 395nm? 

Unfortunately we do not have any data or testing on the applications you mention. Based on a basic understanding of polymer and plastic science, exposure to UV radiation will generally cause the material to degrade and yellow further, rather than return to the original white color.

​If you have any further technical information on the materials you are interested in working with, I would be more than happy to take a look and offer my suggestions.

365 nm is generally considered to be a "truer" ultraviolet wavelength, so this would be the best option if you are after a UV lighting solution that best represents your needs for UV-A.

I had forgot to mention that, for whitening sneaker soles, a product is used that when the sole is coated and then exposed to UV light for a long period of time, the old yellow sole is restored to white. I have used this product called "Sole Bright" with good results.

I got great results using sunlight, but the exposure sessions are long, especially when there are cloudy days and I would have to wait for the sun to return.

Others have used enclosed UV light boxes to speed up exposure time without depending on sunny weather. Only issue is that they dont provide specific info on what UV light source they use. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to glean any further insights as far as wavelength sensitivities are concerned. Sunlight includes a very wide spectrum of ultraviolet wavelengths, so it's hard to know which of those wavelengths are the ones doing the "heavy lifting" in terms of the restoration process as all I see on the product page are instructions for sun exposure.

​As mentioned prior, 365 nm is a "truer" UV wavelength so if I had to guess, that would be the most effective wavelength choice between that and 395 nm, but without seeing technical documentation regarding wavelengths from the Sole Bright manufacturer, I don't know that I'll be able to provide any additional assurances.

I would perhaps recommend reaching out to Angelus to see if the 365 nm wavelength is a match for their product and go from there.

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UV-A floodlightsUV-A LED strip lights

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