A Study On The Space-Environmental Effects Of Silicone Rubber For Solar-Cell Cover Glass

In this thesis, the irradiation of protons, electrons and ultraviolets on the silica rubber were carried out in a ground-based simulator, and the radiation induced damage effects were investigated by means of SEM, FT-IR, MS and XPS.The results of proton irradiation show that the energy, the proton dosage, density of particle all have negative influence on the transmittance. The proton had more impact than the others. The transmittance of cover/silica rubber would decrease a lot when the proton dosage reached 1E15cm-2. The results of the FTIR and XPS showed that the hydroxyl product from the severe degradation of the Si-O-Si reduced the transmittance greatly. The SEM photograph of the surface and the fracture implied that the irradiation damage was not in the same level in the different part of the matrix.The results of electron irradiation show that the change of transmittance was not obviously on the condition of low energy and low density of particle, but the transmittance in the band of ultraviolet reduced greatly with the increase of electron dosage. When the energy was 170keV and the density of the particle was 0.2μA/cm2, and the irradiation dosage was 5E15cm-2, the transmittance reduced a lot. The results of the FTIR showed that although the degradation of the main and the branch radicle was serious the transmittance did not change a lot. The SEM photograph of surface showed that the at this time quite a lot of nubby granule appeared on the surface; hole would be formed after falling off of protuberance when the dosage was increased, the chemical bond was broken, and tunnel was formed on the surface. But no crack formed as the proton irradiation. The SEM photographs show that when the irradiation dosage was 5E15cm-2, the silica rubber became brittle distinctly. The glass cover stick to the silica rubber change a lot and the bond between the interfaces was destroyed completely. When the dosage reached , discharge phenomenon emerged,a transition layer could be detected. So it comes to conclusion that the farther change of silica rubber after the degradation of the main chain and the interface between the rubber and the glass together lead to the reduction of the transmittance with the irradiation dosage of 1E16cm^-2. The irradiation of the ultraviolet irradiation show that the irradiation only destroyed the surface of the silica rubber and made it cracking. When the dosages attained 1860ESH the transmittance decreased slightly.