The Solar-Radiant Heat-Reducing Effect of Silica/Clay Ceramic Covered with Moss

抄録

To recycle silica byproducts and to moderate the heat-island phenomenon, a porous ceramic was prepared by mixing waste silica powder with clay and then firing the resulting mixture. Following this, by exploiting the high waterabsorption capacity of the ceramic, a greening material, where the ceramic sample was covered with moss, was produced. To examine the ability of the moss-covered sample to suppress the temperature increase caused by solar-radiant heat, as well as to investigate the influence of water content on the sample temperature, the surface-temperature change of the sample during solar-radiant heat reception and the amount of water evaporated from the sample were measured simultaneously. Further, to verify whether the moss-covered sample could reduce the heat flow into a room, the heat flux between the rear surface of the sample and the rooftop floor of a test structure was measured. The experimental results confirmed that a moss-covered sample that could absorb sufficient water could suppress the temperature increase caused by solar-radiant heat over the entire day and significantly reduce the heat flow between the rear surface of the sample and the rooftop floor.