Durability,reliability and service life time of polymers are key factors in many technical applications. The exact knowledge of chemical and physical aging processes during real service conditions, which lead to a deterioration or change of relevant material properties, is essential by means of quality management and product safety as well as product guarantee.
A special case are polymers in solar energy application like photovoltaics or solar heat with required lifetimes of 20 years and more. The emphasis within this field of research is on the investigation of long term stability and failure mechanisms of used polymers and the development and qualification of new material candidates according the requirement profile.
The main research objectives within this field are:
- Analysis and description of external and internal stress factors
- Definition of application relevant accelerated weathering test and degradation indicators
- Implementation and application of accelerated weathering tests (UV, Xenon, climate chamber, natural weathering)
- Material characterization and method development focusing on mechanical, thermo-mechanical, thermal and optical properties as well as investigation of polymer structure and morphology
- Description of aging behavior and establishment of structure property correlations
- Lifetime modeling
