St. Louis-based Saflex, a unit of Solutia Inc., has introduced Saflex PA41, a new thin-gauge polyvinyl butyral-based encapsulant designed specifically for photovoltaic applications. The new product significantly reduces encapsulant usage, while maintaining module durability and processing performance, according to the company.
Saflex's PA41 is a second-generation photovoltaic product designed to reduce encapsulant thickness by 33%. To accomplish this task, properties of the Saflex PA41 formulation were optimized to improve encapsulating flow around busbars and other critical components, the company says.
‘A primary objective throughout the development process was to ensure that a thin-gauge encapsulant could provide the same performance and long-term durability of thicker-gauge encapsulants, while maintaining high encapsulation yields,’ says Francois Koran, photovoltaic development manager at Saflex.
Saflex: (314) 674-1000
SOURCE: Solutia Inc.
