Mermet USA, a leading manufacturer of sun control textiles, introduced Chroma, an innovative solar shade fabric with aluminum, high reflectance backing as a solution to the day lighting and temperature issues commonly experienced in commercial buildings, schools and homes.
The new fabric’s two percent openness and unique construction of fiberglass and metal allows it to deliver excellent glare control, thermal comfort and ideal view through qualities.
Chroma reflects up to 78 percent of solar radiation to help manage heat, while blocking up to 98 percent of visible light. When used with a standard insulated glass unit, the fabric can improve the combined Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) up to 29 percent for improved building envelope performance.
The shade fabric is available in five colors with a tightly woven openness for ideal installation, thermal and optical control.
“With Chroma, we challenged ourselves to deliver a solar shade fabric that could meet the current stylistic and functional demands of architects and designers globally,” Mermet’s product manager Robert Beals said.
Like Mermet’s other fiberglass core shade fabrics, Chroma provides mechanical resistance and dimensional stability, while a nano-layer of aluminum offers solar performance and view through clarity. Its nano-layer only covers the fabric’s fibers, leaving the 2×2 basket weave and textile properties visually intact.
The fabric’s inherently strong fiberglass yarn allowed it to test excellently for adhesion, weathering and breaking strength.
Chroma provides the reflective properties of white fabric and the visual aspects of dark fabric. The company says, it is ideal for optimizing indoor environmental quality for comfort, health, productivity and sustainability.
The new fabric is fireproof, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) certified, and meets globally recognized efficiency standards from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), as well as the California U.S. Title 19, which states several fire safety regulations.