Chemical tempering of photovoltaic glass

What is chemical tempered glass?

Like thermal tempering, chemical tempering creates a compressive layer on the surface of the glass which prevents cracks from opening, increasing the glass’s strength. Chemically tempered glass may also be called chemically strengthened glass, chemically reinforced glass, or chemically toughened glass. How does Chemical Tempering work?

What is the difference between thermal tempering and chemical tempering?

Chemical tempering strengthens glass by ion exchange which creates a compressive outer layer of the glass. While this method is more expensive and time-consuming than thermal tempering, chemical tempering can achieve stronger glass. It is also a more-controlled process, allowing it to be used to temper fine glass parts such as phone screens.

How does chemical tempering work?

Chemical tempering creates a compressive outer layer on glass by expanding the volume of the outside surface of the glass. One common way to do this is by ion exchange. Regular soda-lime glass (window glass) is made of SiO 2 with some sodium atoms interspersed. In ion exchange, engineers “trade” the sodium ions for a larger ion, such as potassium.

What is the application of chemical tempering of glass?

E-MRS 2007 Fall Conference Symposium F: The binary ion exchange process in materials science and chemistry: application, characterization and modelling. René Gy, in Materials Science and Engineering: B, 2008 The main industrial application of chemical tempering of glass is the fabrication of cockpit windows for aircrafts.

Does PV module cover glass need a thermal tempering process?

As noted above, a thermal tempering process is required for PV module cover glass in order to pass various mechanical tests (e. g., the hail test) associated with the IEC and UL standards described above (Sect. 48.3.1, Durability).

Can tempered glass withstand a temperature too close to ion exchange?

This tends to flatten the ion exchange concentration profile and the corresponding residual stress field. In practice, chemically tempered glass cannot withstand a temperature too close to the chemical tempering temperature, except for transients much shorter than the chemical tempering duration.