Study Program for Encapsulation Materials Interface for Low-Cost Solar Array (LSA)
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Begun in 1973, the Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation (QNDE) is the premier international NDE meeting designed to provide an interface between research and early engineering through the presentation of current ideas and results focused on facilitating a rapid transfer to engineering development.
This site provides free, public access to papers presented at the annual QNDE conference between 1983 and 1999, and abstracts for papers presented at the conference since 2001.
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Abstract
The early validation of a 20 year service integrity for the bonded interfaces in low cost solar arrays is an important requirement in the Low Cost Solar Array ( LSA) project. An atmospheric corrosion model has been developed and verified by five months of corrosion rate and climatology data acquired at Mead, Nebraska LSA test site. Atmospheric corrosion monitors (ACMs) installed at the Mead test site showed that protection of the corroding surface by the encapsulant is achieved independent of climatology variations. A newly designed Mead climatology simulator has been developed in laboratory corrosion studies to clarify corrosion mechanisms displayed by two types of LSA modules at the Mead test site. Controlled experiments with identical moisture and temperature aging cycles showed that UV radiation causes corrosion while UV shielding inhibits LSA corrosion. The implementation of AC impedance as a NDE monitor of environmental aging in solar cell arrays has also been demonstrated.