Lifetime assessment of Bisphenol-A Polycarbonate (BPA-PC) plastic lens, used in LED-based products

•Degradation of Bisphenol A Polycarbonate lens under elevated temperature is studied.•Increasing the exposure time is associated with the increasing the yellowing index (YI).•By increasing temperature depreciation takes place at shorter time.•The acceleration factors of variants A and B are calculated to be around 4. In this investigation, the accelerated optical degradation of two different commercial Bisphenol-A Polycarbonate (BPA-PC) grades under elevated temperature stress is studied. The BPA-PC plates are used both in light conversion carriers in LED modules and encapsulants in LED packages. BPA-PC plates are exposed to temperatures in the range of 100–140°C. Optical properties of the thermally-aged plates were studied using an integrated sphere. The results show that increasing the exposure time leads to degradation of BPA-PC optical properties, i.e. decrease of light transmission and increase in the yellowing index (YI). An exponential luminous decay model and Arrhenius equation are used to predict the lumen depreciation over different time and temperatures. Accelerated thermal stress tests together with the applied reliability model are used to predict the lifetime of plastic lens in LED lamps in real life conditions.