Aging tests of components for solar thermal collectors

Components for solar thermal collectors like glazing materials, absorbers and reflectors are exposed to outdoor weathering and accelerated weathering tests in order to analyze their stability and behavior under different climatic conditions. To measure the degradation on different scales and to identify the processes taking place, the samples are characterized before, during and after the tests with different methods, including FT-IR spectroscopy, contact angle measurement and microscopic technologies such as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).