The Effect of the Substrate on the Optic Performance of Retro-Reflective Coatings: An In-Lab Investigation

Alessia Di Giuseppe, Marta Cardinali, Beatrice Castellani, Mirko Filipponi, Alberto Maria Gambelli, Lucio Postrioti, Andrea Nicolini and Federico Rossi
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Alessia Di Giuseppe: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Marta Cardinali: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Beatrice Castellani: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Mirko Filipponi: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Alberto Maria Gambelli: Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Lucio Postrioti: Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Andrea Nicolini: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Federico Rossi: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Centre on Pollution and Environment “M. Felli”, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-10

Abstract: Retro-reflectivity is a promising surface capability, which has attracted the interest of researchers for building applications in order to counteract Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects. This work aims at studying the impact of the substrate material on the optic performance of retro-reflective (RR) coatings. Three types of substrate materials were investigated: smooth pine wood panels, rough plywood panels, and smooth acetate sheets. The RR coating samples were made by firstly adding a high reflective white paint onto the substrate material and a homogeneous RR glass beads layer on the top. As a reference case, also diffusive samples, without RR beads, were developed. Samples have been tested through a spectrophotometric and an angular reflectivity analysis. Results show that, despite a lower global reflectance of the RR samples with respect to the diffusive ones, the glass beads coating provides a good retro-reflective capability to all the diffusive samples. Additionally, the roughest RR sample exhibited the highest RR capability of up to 16%, with respect to the other smoother samples. Future developments may involve the optimum design of RR coatings, in terms of their optic performance by varying the substrate materials and roughness, the glass beads density and dimension.

Keywords: Urban Heat Island; retro-reflective coatings; glass beads; optic analysis; angular reflectivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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