Effect of pigment concentration on optical and mechanical properties of polypropylene absorber materials

Description

Black-pigmented polyolefin compounds are widely used for unglazed collectors and recently also for glazed flat-plate collectors with overheating protection. In this paper the effects of pigment concentration (carbon black (CB)-masterbatch) on optical and mechanical properties of polypropylene grades for elevated temperature applications (PP-RCT) are investigated. Compounds with varying black pigment concentration (from 0.1 to 1.0 wt.-%) were prepared and molded to 2mm thick sheets. The optical and mechanical properties were characterized on specimen level by UV/Vis/NIR-spectrometry and tensile testing. The investigated black compounds exhibited integral solar absorbance values ranging from 95 to 96 %, concomitantly the effect of black pigment concentration on the solar-optical properties was small. Regarding the mechanical properties the ultimate mechanical properties were slightly increasing with higher black pigment content. Further work is currently focusing on the characterization of the aging behavior under application relevant service conditions (hot air and hot heat carrier fluid).

Period	10 Sept 2013
Event title	Advances in Polymer Science and Technology (APST) 3
Event type	Conference
Location	AustriaShow on map