Brief Description: Testing of ceramic paint additive - Part 1
So one of my little things I am testing for use on this aircraft is a attive for paint that makes it insulate. Basically it is a product from a company called Hy-tech Solutions. While their website and packaging screams SCAM, their data is backed up by NASA. So what is it? In a nutshell it is millions of tiny hollow ceramic balls that are the consistancy of talc. You mix it into your paint and viola, you have insulating paint. I bought a package that will convert about 5 gallons of paint. Because I'm not mixing up 5 gallons of paint I weighed it and came up with about 1.5oz per pint. This amount has a volume of about 1 1/2 cups so it will thicken your paints.
I'm not going to take this stuff on face value so I am setiing up a little test. I made a small box out of 1/4" plywood scrap I had. In the bottom of this box I have put a socket for a lightbulb and ran the cord out of the removeable top. About half of the surface I have painted with some left over latex paint I have laying around, the other half will be painted with the same paint but with the additive. I will then use a non-contact thermometer to see how much heat from the lightbulb penetrates the different sides. If the stuff works, I will use it on the firewall and some other areas that are prone to heat such as the bottom of the aircraft near the exhausts.
View of the test box.
You can see a line between the two different paints. It does lighten the paint a little.
