High Performance Cool Roof Coatings
Project Member(s): Smith, G., Arnold, M.
Funding or Partner Organisation: Skycool Pty Ltd (Skycool Pty Ltd Partnership Fund)
Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (Department of Industry Partnership Fund)
Start year: 2015
Summary: This project will develop in collaboration with the partner comapany holding the NSW T&D TechVoucher (SkyCool) paint formulations and coating procedures that ensure sustained high-level performance well in excess of that in average cool roof products currently on the market. It will enable studies by UTS of the link between the internal micro- and nano-structure of the dried paint and its internal depth profile as a function of formulation and coating protocols. This understanding and the theoretical models it generates will allow optimized practical goals to be scientifically based. Most development to date has been empirical while this aspect will not only aid product design and development but enhance quality control. We have some insights in this area already from the way natural living systems, both plants and some desert creatures, deal with solar heat. A particular focus will be on raising and maximizing the reflectance of the near infra red (NIR) component of solar radiation which is where most gains in paint albedo will arise, and also where nature has used interesting structures. The aim of this 6 month project is also to provide initial results to underpin and strengthen an ARC Linkage application in November and give the comany confidence to support and participate in the full 3 year Linkage project . That is one stated key aim of the TechVoucher system
Publications:
Gentle, AR & Smith, GB 2015, 'A Subambient Open Roof Surface under the Mid-Summer Sun', ADVANCED SCIENCE, vol. 2, no. 9.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
FOR Codes: Construction Materials Performance and Processes, Materials Engineering