Pigmented glazed ceramic roof tiles in Brazil: Thermal and optical properties related to solar reflectance index

Urbanization and the resulting concentration of people in cities has led to the emergence of Urban Heat Islands (UHI), which is associated with several problems. One strategy for UHI mitigation is the use of cool coatings for pavements and buildings, for instance, on roof tiles. Ceramic roof tiles are widely used in Brazil and in the rest of South America, but they have not been adequately studied regarding their thermal emittance and solar radiation reflectance. These two properties can be used to determine whether or not a roof tile coating can be classed as “cool”, according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. In this paper, the solar reflectance, thermal emittance and Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) index were determined for “Portuguese” and “American” colored glazed roof tiles, mostly produced in Brazil. Nineteen glazed roof tiles (from four different producers) with different colors were studied according the LEED certification. The thermal emittance was determined using a portable emissometer and the reflectance spectral curves were measured using a UV–Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. All measurements were performed according to the ASTM standards. The colorimetric coordinates in the visible range (for the D65 illuminant) were determined to evaluate the relationship between the luminous reflectance factor (Y) and the SRI. The optical behavior of the colored glazes for the full range of the solar spectrum was determined using the Kubelka-Munk (K-M) model and the relationship between the absorption (K) and scattering (S) coefficients. The results show that most of the colored glazed tiles did not meet the 2013 LEED requirement, that is, SRI ≥ 39 for roof tiles with a steep slope. A polynomial relationship between the Y factor and the SRI was found (R2 value > 0.95), therefore the tile colors that would probably not qualify for SRI certification could be estimated. The K-M analysis showed that for some glazes there was a high absorption of radiation in the near infrared region, suggesting that the pigments used for these glazes do not exhibit cool properties. Therefore, cool pigments with higher reflectance should be used to improve the performance of the glazes with a low SRI.