In recent years, renewable energy resources have become widely accepted as a way to help solve the world’s potential energy crisis. Developments are progressing rapidly and new materials employed in the field of renewable energy require adequate quality control.
Industrial Applications
Methods based on thermal analysis techniques such as DSC, TGA, TMA, DMA are extremely important for characterizing the materials and compounds used in renewable energy resources. Thermal analysis is mainly used to measure the thermal stability, oxidative stability, and curing behavior of materials. In addition, it is an important tool for optimizing processes in biomass plants or for quality control in the biofuels industry.
Other important applications have to do with the laminating process of photovoltaic modules and the measurement of the mechanical properties of composites used for rotor blades in wind turbines.
Thermal Analysis in the Field of Renewable Energy
The most important effects that can be analyzed by DSC are the glass transition, melting behavior, and the enthalpy of cure.
TOA is the method of choice for the visual observation of samples, for example during crystallization and to detect cloud point effects.
The main applications of TGA are content analysis, thermal stability and evaporation behavior.
TMA can be used to characterize expansion, shrinkage or melting behavior.
DMA is a good method for characterizing the viscoelastic behavior of materials.