TY - JOUR A1 - Stark, Wolfgang A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Bohmeyer, W. A1 - Lange, K. T1 - Investigation of the crosslinking behaviour of ehtylene vinyl acetate (EVA) for solar cell encapsulation by rheology and ultrasound N2 - EVA is a widely used material for the encapsulation of photovoltaic modules. It melts at elevated temperatures, and seals the module before it is crosslinked at temperatures above 130 °C by a peroxide-initiated crosslinking reaction. EVA has good optical properties necessary for application in solar modules. For process optimization and quality management, a method for the quick and reliable characterization of EVA crosslinking behaviour is of great value. Here, the practicability of ultrasound for online crosslinking monitoring is demonstrated. A sound velocity increase of about 8 m/s during the crosslinking reaction is found. The ultrasound results are compared with rheometer measurements performed with a curemeter typically used for the investigation of rubber crosslinking. KW - Ethylene vinyl acetate KW - EVA KW - Crosslinking KW - Ultrasound KW - Rheology KW - Curemeter KW - DSC PY - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2012.07.004 SN - 0142-9418 VL - 31 IS - 7 SP - 904 EP - 908 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-26291 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Stark, Wolfgang A1 - Hoster, B. T1 - Monitoring the vulcanization of elastomers: Comparison of curemeter and ultrasonic online control N2 - The vulcanization of elastomeric materials has a high impact on the properties of the final product. Therefore, it is important to monitor and control this crosslinking process. A common technique to attain the necessary curing time is the use of a curemeter in accordance with ISO 6502 in order to determine the time for full cure of a sample with a standardized geometry. Based on this result and a lot of practical experience, the required curing time for a given product geometry is estimated. Within the scope of this work, a new analysis technique will be compared with the standard procedure. The ultrasonic online control employs ultrasound waves to measure the changes in material properties caused by vulcanization. For this study, a natural rubber compound with a conventional curing system was investigated by both techniques. It was found that the results of the ultrasonic technique show good agreement with the results of the curemeter. KW - Cure process KW - Ultrasound KW - Curemeter KW - Elastomer KW - Vulcanization KW - Online control PY - 2009 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2008.11.005 SN - 0142-9418 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 84 EP - 88 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-18674 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Stark, Wolfgang T1 - Monitoring the vulcanization of rubber with ultrasound: Influence of material thickness and temperature N2 - In consideration of the influence of the curing reaction on the material properties of elastomers, it is very important to control the vulcanization process properly. As shown previously [1], the effects of the vulcanization reaction of an elastomer can be monitored by use of ultrasonic sound waves. This technique has to a certain degree a high similarity to the standard curemeter test according to ISO 6502 but can be applied also inside a production tool. So far, the method was only applied to the vulcanization of one compound at a given temperature and sample thickness. This is now complemented with measurements on another compound system at different temperatures and sample thicknesses. The expected effects of temperature and thickness on the curing behaviour were found by use of the ultrasound online control. KW - Vulcanization KW - Cure process KW - Ultrasound KW - Curemeter KW - Elastomer KW - Natural rubber PY - 2009 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2009.08.006 SN - 0142-9418 VL - 28 IS - 8 SP - 901 EP - 906 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-19959 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -