Preparation of reversible thermochromic building coatings and their properties

Thermochromic dyes reversible at normal ambient temperatures have been identified and microencapsulated using an emulsion polymerization process. By blending microencapsulated thermochromic dyes and nonthermochromic pigments with ordinary building coatings, thermochromic building coatings, in which colors change reversibly from warm tones to cool tones at about 18 °C have been obtained. The application and performance properties of the coatings were measured, and it was found that adding thermochromic dyes did not degrade the properties of coatings. The aging results showed that the aging properties of the coatings were not ideal; the reasons will be given in another paper. 1923 Siping Road, Shanghai, P. R. China. Project Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (59978036).