The solar industry is one of the fastest growing segments in the converting industry. As companies work to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of photovoltaic modules they are encountering the need to join surfaces of different materials.

Atmospheric plasma is a viable solution for many of these adhesion challenges as it is easily integrates into production lines and can treat a wide variety of surfaces including polymers, glass and metals.

Silicone is frequently used in the construction of solar modules and atmospheric plasma has proven to work quite well at improving bonds made with silicone.

A specific example of this is securely bonding reactive hot-melt silicone (100% silicone) with polycarbonate junction boxes and the glass or aluminum frames of PV modules. PV module frames are also sealed with this silicone, using it as an encapsulant