Laboratory Tests with Liquid Nano-ceramic Thermal Insulation Coating

Abstract

Liquid nano-ceramic thermal insulation coatings appeared in the last decades on the market of thermal insulation materials. This paint-on insulation contains microscopic cellular ceramic microspheres. These vacuum-hollow balls were made of on high temperature melted ceramic. Its binding material is a mixture of synthetic rubber and other polymers. After mixing with the raw material with its binder, using brush or vacuum vaporizer can be taken on the surface to be insulated. The special literature of liquid nano-ceramic thermal insulation coatings gives different and contradictory thermodynamic details about this material. According to some sources its thermal conductivity is around 0,001-0,003 W/mK, but other papers publish much higher thermal conductivity values (from 0,01 W/mK to 0,14 W/mK). In the Laboratory of Building Materials and Building Physics at Szechenyi Istvan University (Gyor, Hungary) several thermodynamic test were made with liquid nano-ceramic thermal insulation coatings. On basis of European Standards (EN) the thermal conductivity and water absorption of this material was determined. The relationship between thermal conductivity and water content was analyzed. Experiments were performed with conventional thermal insulation materials with additional ceramic coating on one side, two sides and beside two plates. Results were analyzed in order to prove the low thermal conductivity and heat mirror effect of this material.