The difference between Super Therm® thermo-insulative coating and thermoreflective coatings:Research in the roofing materials field has shown that increasing a surface’s solar reflectivity substantially increases the lifespan of the entire roof covering. Therefore, some asphalt roofing materials manufacturers began furnishing their products with lustrous metallic foil or painting them with a white or silver reflective coating. This has substantially protected their products’ surfaces against damage, yet not against heating.
At first glance it appears that the silvery, reflective aluminum paints work as perfect solar reflectors. This is not the case, though, as flakes of aluminum paint have high reflectivity to the visible solar spectrum yet their ability to handle infrared emissions is low. They do not repel infrared radiation, but absorb it. Despite the fact that a mirror-polished silvery surface appears to us as the best heat reflector, in practice such a surface reflects only visible light rays: a mere 40% in solar radiation and 3% in UV. The remaining 57% is made up of infrared radiation, which metallic surfaces do not reflect. And as they absorb that radiation, they heat up tremendously in a short time. Next comes the overheating of the entire roof.
For these reasons, painting a roof as protection against heating with silvery aluminum or ordinary white reflective coatings is fundamentally ineffective. Only a ceramic coating with ceramic content repelling the whole spectrum of solar radiation is able to keep a roof surface cool all day. For this, Super Therm® is unmatched!***
The difference is also in the durability of the reflective capabilities:
Ordinary reflective coatings lose more than 30% of their reflective properties in the course of 3 years Super Therm® coating lost only 0.01% of its reflective properties over the course of 3 years.
Watch Out For Imitations!
Not all ceramic insulation coatings are created equal! There is also a vast difference between an insulating coating and a "reflective paint". As with any and all world class technology there will inevitably be cheap imitations that will claim to do the same or better and cost half the price. You can't just throw some ceramic (usually cheap Perlite or other reflective ceramic) into some kind of paint and say "me too". Beware some will even go so far as to sell mere bags of ceramic powder to the unsuspecting public with the notion that the user would simply add this to their own paint and get the same results.These cheap imitations are making exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims that have resulted in lawsuits. When pressed for documentation ( i.e. ASTM ) from certified testing facilities to back up these claims, they are unable to produce any or at best produce some hokey unrecognized and unaccredited test they designed themselves and conducted by unaccredited non thermal labs following the customers directions.
These kinds of practices unfortunately hurt the legitimate product as we have seen because it’s the bad news that people always remember.
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