Abstract
Insulative Coatings have been used for over 20 years for personnel protection and energy retention. However, the industry still lacks certain test methods that can validate the thermal performance of these coatings. There are standards to determine the coating’s thermal conductivity, but none to determine watt usage and thermal efficiency at different conditions. Watt usage and thermal efficiency can be determined with thermal modeling programs. But, comparisons of predictions from thermal programs and field data sometimes do not agree. As a result, a new lab test method was developed to determine watt usage and thermal conductivity at various conditions. The objective was to determine if lab data do indeed agree with predictions in thermal modeling programs and to ASTM tests that determine thermal conductivity. If there is close agreement, then this might validate the use of this test as another tool in the lab to determine thermal performance of insulative coatings. This report describes the development of this test, gives details of the test set-up and compares test data to a thermal modeling program and to an ASTM test that measures thermal conductivity.
