Fence or decking materials with enhanced solar reflectance
AssigneeCertainTeed Corporation
InventorsMING-LIANG SHIAO, Joong-Youn Kim
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Abstract
A co-extrusion process enhances the durability of the ultimate product over previous systems which use relatively fragile paint coatings to limit heat absorption. By providing near-IR transmissive and reflective pigments within the co-extruded polymers, a highly durable finished product is obtained. The co-extruded layers are disclosed for use in fence and deck applications, but will also find application in a wide variety of building product applications, both exterior and interior.
Claims22
A method for forming a low heat absorbing extruded polymer structure comprising:
- providing a first polymer in a first extruder;
- providing a second polymer in a second extruder;
- extruding the first polymer through a die to produce a structural preform;
- co-extruding the second polymer onto an outer surface of the structural preform to provide a cap layer;
- wherein at least a portion of the structural preform is substantially near-infrared (near-IR) reflective and the cap layer is substantially near-IR transmissive.
A method for controlling the dimensional stability of a polymeric building product, comprising:
- selecting a first polymer having a deformation temperature;
- selecting a second polymer;
- co-extruding the first and second polymers to provide a multi-layer polymer profile comprising a substrate layer and a capping layer;
- wherein said capping layer is visibly opaque due to the addition of a first pigment, and is substantially transparent to near-IR radiation;
- and
- wherein the substrate layer is substantially reflective of near-IR radiation such that when the multi-layer polymer profile is exposed to direct sunlight, the heat absorbed by the profile will not increase the temperature of the profile to a value greater than the deformation temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.