Grafo-Therm Fact Sheet

Grafo-Therm has passed the condensation control test; The effect of Grafo-Therm can be proved with a British testing method (Ministry of supply SSF B 111). A cone shaped copper vessel is sprayed on the outside with Grafo-Therm and placed together with an identical untreated cone in a room at 20° and 60% relative humidity. Both cones are filled with ice water, RESULT:

What is condensation?
Air is a mixture of gases. There is always vapour in the air, and there is more of it when the temperature is high. When the vapour meets a cold surface it condenses into water. Condensation always occurs when the surface temperature is down to and below the so called dew point. ​In buildings with a single skin roof system, condensation occurs during the quick changes in weather. The temperature of a steel roof may, due to rain or heat radiation during the night, fall as much as 5° below the inside temperature. ​These circumstances do not usually last long. The problems caused by condensation can easily be prevented by Grafo-Therm anti-condensation coating.

The Grafo-Therm Treatment: How Does it Work?
In the dry state, Grafo-Therm is an efficient thermal insulant, albeit that a 1.5mm thickness would not be efficient against heat loss, it does put back the time before dew point occurs, thereby preventing or considerably reducing the periods during which condensation forms. Thereby reducing the amount of condensation formed during any one 24-hour period.
Whenever dew point is reached on the surface, condensation will form and this will immediately be absorbed by the coating. A 1.5mm thickness can absorb and control against dripping up to 1.0 litres moisture per m².
Having absorbed moisture, it is important to effect rapid evaporation and removal from the cavity, when conditions change to drying. For this Grafo-Therm is superb.

For example, when sprayed onto a 1000m² corrugated roof, the textured finish of the compound effectively increased for specific drying surface by at least 10 times - 10,000m², on most corrugated sheets this can be increased by 20% to allow for corrugations - 12,000m² of drying surface.

Grafo-Therm having proven absorption and capillary capabilities assures maximum benefit from this large specific drying surface, enabling fast and efficient cyclic drying.
The release properties of Grafo-Therm are faster per thickness and area than competitive materials which rely on greater thickness being applied.
 
Grafo-Therm offers more than condensation control
Grafo-Therm in its light grey colour provides and attractive textured surface, in white it provides excellent light reflection. Grafo-Therm reduced the effects of reverberating noise from steel sheets, and dramatically reduces the noise from wind and rain.
Standard colours available are light grey or white.

Corrosion Protection
Grafo-Therm provides indirect protection against corrosion by absorbing moisture, that might otherwise form droplets to run over an untreated surface, setting up conditions for corrosion. On an untreated surface, droplets can contain a large amount of water with a small surface area, onto which a surface film will form to inhibit evaporation when conditions change to drying. A Grafo-Therm coated surface has a very large specific surface which enables water to evaporate quickly, thereby reducing the time which water could affect the painted surface.

Typical Areas for Application
When free from the damaging effects of condensation, the roof systems below are excellent at providing their design function.

The single skin roof must have condensation control. During a single frosty night condensation can run to drip from the purlins and saturate the goods below. Grafo-Therm is the protection.

The single skin roof over a highly insulated suspended ceiling is the most cost-effective mineral fibre insulation system allowing U values better than 0.25w/m² °C. If this system is subjected to dripping condensation the wet insulation will lose its value and the ceiling panels may collapse, if a vapour check membrane is used, the weight of the water collected could also bring down the ceiling. A simple coating of Grafo-Therm will complete this excellent specification.

When condensation is controlled on the single skin roof sheet, this built-up over purlin system is very cost effective in both the short and long term. Grafo-Therm will provide protection for the life of the steel sheets.

Concrete structures such as Aircraft Shelters and Multi-Storey Car Parks may also benefit from a coating of Grafo-Therm to provide condensation control, light reflection and noise dampening. In most of these buildings, it is a mixture of natural ambient temperature, relative humidity and the natural performance of steel or aluminium roof sheets when subjected to the effect of clear night radiation (frost) after they have been used to roof in a single skin application on both insulated and uninsulated buildings.