Aging behavior of polymeric solar absorber materials – Part 2: Commodity plastics

In this series of two papers, various polymeric materials are investigated as to their potential applicability as absorber materials for solar thermal collectors. While Part 1 of this paper series deals with the aging behavior of engineering plastics, including two amorphous polymers (PPE + PS) and (PC) and two semi-crystalline polymers (two types of PA12), the present Part 2 treats the aging behavior of semi-crystalline so-called “commodity” plastics (two types of crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X) and two types of polypropylene (PP)). As in Part 1, the focus of the investigation is to study the aging behavior of these materials under maximum operating conditions (80 °C in water up to 16,000 h) and stagnation conditions (140 °C in air up to 500 h) typical for northern climate. The materials supplied or produced as polymer films were first characterized in the unaged state and then for different states of aging by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and by mechanical tensile tests. DSC was applied primarily to obtain information on physical aging phenomena, whereas SEC analysis was used to characterize chemical degradation of the materials. In addition, physical and chemical aging were both analyzed via the small and large strain mechanical behavior. Comparing the two aging conditions in hot air and hot water, a rather stable mechanical performance profile was found for both PP types over the investigated aging time, which was interpreted in terms of competing physical and chemical aging mechanisms. Analogously such competing mechanisms were also inferred for one of the PE-X materials, while the other exhibited substantial degradation in terms of strain-to-break values for both aging conditions. In principle, both PP and PE-X are promising candidates for black absorber applications in northern climates if proper measures against overheating are taken and when adequately modified.