FIllers and Thermo-Shield – Fluid Applied Ceramics
How Do Thermo-Shield Coatings Differ From Common Products?
Fillers - Most coatings use cheap fillers to keep the cost of their product down
Fillers like China Clay are common, organic products that, because they are developed by nature, are quite readily broken down by nature. Scotchman uses ceramic micro-spheres; very similar to the ceramics used in the Space Shuttles, which are close to indestructible by the conditions faced each day by buildings.
Ceramic micro-spheres are about 50% by volume in Thermo-Shield coatings.
The micro-spheres help our coatings reflect about 83% of the Solar Light. (They reflect about 85% of the infrared or “Hot” end of the light spectrum). They stop most radiant heat transfer before it ever becomes a problem.
Ceramic is one of the best non-conductors of heat; they reduce heat transfer by conduction. These micro-spheres are also hollow and vacuumed inside - the best insulator.
With ceramics you have to add a new term to your insulation vocabulary “DISSIPATION”. Other types of insulation just slow down the transfer of heat. Ceramics can “dissipate” heat transferring it back into the atmosphere - the heat never gets into the building to become a problem (or in the case of Thermo-Shield Interior coatings, the heat is not lost out of the building). A cube of ceramic material can be heated to over 1100O C and be safely picked up with bare fingers only seconds later while the cube is still glowing red-hot in the center. Ceramics make the heat dissipate quickly from the surface. Many people think a thin coat of Thermo-Shield cannot provide insulation. They are very wrong!
Because of the ceramics, our coatings are more resistant to dirt accumulation than other elastomerics. Dirt will wash off easily with a garden hose wash down.
The ceramic micro-spheres themselves are fireproof and can dissipate great amounts of heat. As a result, Thermo-Shield coatings have a good fire resistance. In the Japanese flame tests, our coating had Zero flame retention.