SILTRUST™ Silicone Products
Leveraging our successful development of silicone products for spacecraft and satellite solar arrays, Momentive has created the SILTRUST family of silicone products for terrestrial solar applications. This full line of encapsulants, adhesives, sealants and potting materials is engineered to endure the harsh environments in which solar panels operate, while generally improving the light-to-electricity conversion yield. These properties, plus greater general stress resistance, weatherability, corrosion protection, a longer life span and higher efficiency for crystalline silicone photovoltaic (PV) modules may potentially lead to a better return on investment and lower production costs for solar energy products.
SILTRUST encapsulants can be used to surround the fragile solar cells of the PV module with a very flexible, stress-dissipating silicone matrix that adheres well, yet does not pass on the level of mechanical stress the cells are subjected to in harsh environmental conditions. Likewise, SILTRUST adhesives, sealants and potting materials typically offer protection to sensitive components and durable adherence generally without primers to a variety of materials used in the PV industry, including aluminum frames, back sheets and glass.
In the PV manufacturing process, SILTRUST products may be incorporated at much lower temperatures than other products, thus potentially avoiding stress arising from differences in thermal expansion coefficients of a module's components. Curing speed is also typically faster than many other materials, resulting in an opportunity to shorten manufacturing cycles.
Because silicones do not absorb ultraviolet light, once the solar array is installed more sunlight reaches the surface of the solar cell, where it becomes available for conversion to electricity. The refractive index of SILTRUST encapsulant closely matches that of glass, generally reducing the energy-dissipating reflection of sunlight away from the solar cell.
SILTRUST products generally offer stability under extreme humidity, temperature and ultraviolet-radiation conditions over the life of a PV array installation.
Suggested applications for SILTRUST silicone products include:
- PV encapsulation
- Potting for solar junction boxes
- Frame seal adhesives for solar panels
- Rail bonding for solar panels
Discover how the SILTRUST portfolio contributes to making solar technology a competitive, reliable and sustainable source of energy.
*SILTRUST is a trademark of Momentive Performance Materials Inc.
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*The marks followed by an asterisk (*) are trademarks of Momentive Performance Materials Inc.
