Development of thermal insulation and solar reflection properties in coated drapery fabrics

The energy consumed in buildings used as residences, workplaces, and public institutions constitutes approximately one-third of the total energy consumed in the world. A significant part of the energy used for purposes such as heating, cooling, and ventilation in buildings is lost through windows. In addition to the use of appropriate glass and frame systems in reducing the losses from windows, the use of curtains and curtain systems that will contribute to energy savings are among the effective methods. Thermal insulation coatings, which slow down heat transfer based on different heat transfer principles, are a prevalent and functional type of coating today. In addition, sun-protective coatings made to reduce the heat gain of the buildings from the outside also have particular importance. In this thesis, coatings were made on polyester fabrics with different material groups according to the knife over roll technique. In addition to titanium dioxide and calcite, widely used as fillers in the textile coating, pumice, perlite, and cellulose powders, which have pretty low thermal conductivity values compared to these, have been studied in different particle sizes and concentrations. Then, coatings were made at different concentrations with aluminum and copper powders of varying particle sizes, which also have good reflectivity in the infrared region of the solar spectrum that causes heating. In addition, multi-layered structures were obtained by using materials that were found to be successful in terms of thermal insulation and solar reflectance among the examined materials. Physical properties of samples such as thickness, mass per unit area, and amount of transferred material (add-on) were investigated. Thermal properties were evaluated by two methods based on different principles, namely conduction, and radiation. Transmittance and reflectance measurements were performed to examine the solar properties of fabrics. In addition, fabric surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Statistical analysis was performed for all the results obtained.