A comparative study of EVA with and without thermal history for different lamination process parameters

In more than 80% of the worldwide photovoltaic (PV) modules, mostly very fragile and 200 μm thick, crystalline silicon solar cells are encapsulated into ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foils, which bond the module components together, provide physical protection, electrical insulation and a barrier for moisture ingress. The understanding of what can happen with EVA during its transport, storage and lamination process is necessary to optimize the quality of the PV module for its long exposure to outdoor weather conditions. Achieving a proper cross-link density of over 70%, it is essential to overcome the cold flow of EVA and to make the module durable. In this work, the feasibility of the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) compared with the solvent extraction (SE) method by toluene were evaluated in order to provide structural information on the EVA curing kinetics and the cross-link density. DSC tests were performed on a DTA DuPont1600 tester. The temperature range for the test was from −50 °C to 200 °C, with the heating rate of 10 °C/min, and the endothermic and exothermic peaks were evaluated. Toluene solvent extractions were performed on the same set of samples that were analyzed by DSC. The measured cross-link density shows a direct dependence on the pre-lamination conditions of EVA, which is in good agreement with the data obtained with the DSC method.