Infrared reflecting TiO₂ is becoming an important functional material for cool roof coatings, exterior wall coatings, and other energy-saving architectural coating systems. In hot climates, a coating is no longer evaluated only by color, hiding power, or weather resistance. Formulators also need to consider how much solar heat the coating can reflect, especially in the near-infrared region.
For architectural coatings, Inter-China Chemical offers two infrared reflecting TiO₂ grades: IR-600 and IR-1000. Both products are designed to improve solar reflectance and help reduce surface temperature, but they are not designed for exactly the same formulation target. In practical coating development, the key question is not simply “which one is better,” but “which one is more suitable for the color system and performance target.”
What Is Infrared Reflecting TiO₂?
Solar radiation includes ultraviolet light, visible light, and infrared radiation. A large part of solar heat comes from the infrared region. This means that a coating with strong near-infrared reflectance can help reduce heat absorption, even when the visible color remains unchanged.
Infrared reflecting TiO₂ is designed to reflect near-infrared radiation while supporting coating durability, dispersion, and long-term outdoor performance. In exterior coatings, this can be used to formulate cool roof coatings, reflective thermal insulation coatings, exterior wall coatings, and colored energy-saving coatings.
IR-600: A Practical Choice for White and Light-Colored Cool Coatings
IR-600 is recommended for white or light-colored coating and plastic formulations. Its main value is straightforward: it helps provide high total solar reflectance, making it suitable for coatings where brightness, whiteness, and heat reflection are all important.
In architectural coating systems, IR-600 performs especially well in white and medium-lightness coatings. According to the product data, IR-600 shows strong reflectance in white architectural coating, with TSR around 0.87 and NIR around 0.88. In medium-lightness architectural coating, it also maintains useful reflective performance, with TSR around 0.64 and NIR around 0.80.
This makes IR-600 suitable for exterior wall coatings, roof coatings, and other light-color systems where the coating producer wants a relatively simple formulation route with reliable reflectance performance.
In short, IR-600 is the more direct choice when the target is white, off-white, beige, light grey, or other light architectural colors.
IR-1000: A Better Fit for Colored and Dark Cool Coatings
IR-1000 is designed for broader color systems. Its product data highlights the ability to work across a wide L* range, from dark to light colors. This is important because cool coating formulators often face a difficult contradiction: customers want darker or more colorful surfaces, but dark pigments usually absorb more solar heat.
IR-1000 helps solve this problem by improving near-infrared reflectance in colored coating systems. In the IR-1000 data, the product is shown in multiple RAL color formulations, including white, grey, yellow, blue, green, brown, red, and dark color systems.
The most important difference appears in low-lightness or darker colors. For example, in a grey architectural coating system, the IR-1000 formulation shows a much higher NIR value than the conventional pigmentary TiO₂ formulation. In a mixed black system, adding IR-1000 significantly improves TSR and NIR compared with the original mixed black formulation.
This makes IR-1000 more suitable for colored cool roof coatings, dark exterior wall coatings, façade coatings, and color-sensitive architectural coatings where the visual color must be maintained while improving heat-reflective performance.
IR-600 vs IR-1000: How to Choose for Exterior Coatings
For white and light-colored exterior coatings, IR-600 is usually the more practical starting point. It is designed for high reflectance in white or light-color systems and can be used in architectural coatings where the main goal is to reduce surface temperature while keeping the formulation relatively simple.
For colored or dark exterior coatings, IR-1000 is usually the stronger choice. It offers more flexibility in color design and is especially useful when formulators need infrared reflectance in grey, blue, green, brown, red, or black-toned coatings.
From a formulation strategy perspective, the difference can be summarized clearly:
IR-600 is for high-reflectance light-color systems.
IR-1000 is for color-flexible infrared reflecting systems.
This distinction matters because cool roof coatings and exterior wall coatings are not one single market. Some projects focus on white reflective roofs, where maximum brightness and heat reflection are the priority. Other projects require colored architectural finishes, where appearance, color matching, and thermal performance must be balanced.
Why IR-1000 Matters for Dark Cool Coatings
Dark cool coatings are much harder to formulate than white cool coatings. Carbon black and many traditional dark pigments strongly absorb solar radiation, which increases surface temperature. Replacing or reducing carbon black with infrared reflecting pigment systems can help improve thermal performance.
IR-1000 is positioned for this type of challenge. It can be used to formulate infrared reflecting coatings across different color shades, including low-lightness colors. This gives coating producers more design freedom, especially for building façades, colored roofs, metal panels, coil coatings, and decorative exterior systems.
For architects and coating brands, this means cool coatings no longer need to be limited to white or very pale colors. IR-1000 can support more attractive color options while still improving near-infrared reflectance.
Why IR-600 Still Has Strong Value
IR-600 should not be seen as a lower-level alternative to IR-1000. Its value is different. In white and light-color systems, formulators often need stable reflectance, good durability, and cost-effective performance. IR-600 is designed exactly for this type of application.
For cool roof coatings, exterior insulation coatings, and light architectural finishes, IR-600 can be a practical material for improving TSR and NIR performance without overcomplicating the formulation.
This makes IR-600 suitable for large-volume architectural coating applications where the target colors are mainly white or light shades.
Application Recommendation
For cool roof and exterior architectural coatings, the selection can follow a simple rule:
Use IR-600 when the coating is white or light-colored and the main goal is high solar reflectance.
Use IR-1000 when the coating is colored or dark, and the main challenge is achieving better near-infrared reflectance without losing the desired color.
For many coating producers, both products may be useful in the same product portfolio. IR-600 can support white and light-color energy-saving coatings, while IR-1000 can expand the product line into colored cool coatings and dark reflective coatings.
Conclusion
IR-600 and IR-1000 are both infrared reflecting TiO₂ materials, but their best application directions are different. IR-600 is more suitable for white and light-colored cool roof and exterior coating systems. IR-1000 is more suitable for colored and dark infrared reflecting coating systems where color flexibility and near-infrared reflectance must be balanced.
For coating manufacturers developing cool roof coatings, exterior wall coatings, reflective thermal insulation coatings, or colored energy-saving architectural coatings, choosing the right infrared reflecting TiO₂ grade can make the formulation more efficient, more targeted, and more commercially practical.