b'Industry NewsCRCAs 33rd Trade Show & SeminarsSave the date for the 33rd Annual Chicago Roofing Contractors Association (CRCA) Trade Show & Seminars, January 21-22, 2016. Continuing Education Units are available for attendees. Watch www.CRCA.org for seminar information and registration, which will open in October, 2015.The two day event will include seminars on both days as well as over 130 manufacturer and suppliers displaying, demonstrating and promoting the newest products and technology in the roofing and waterproofing industry.While entrance to the exhibitor floor and most educational seminars is FREE, there will be aPre-Registration is required for all. nominal charge for contractors, manufacturers andExhibit floor hours are: Thursday, January 21, 2016 distributors to attend the Roofing and Waterproofingfrom 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.The exhibit hall is open Industry Breakfast on Thursday, January 21, 2016.Thisagain Friday, January 22, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. and closes at popular industry event is FREE to Roof Consultants,1:00 p.m.Please watch www.CRCA.org for a full event Specifiers, Building Owners & Managers and Codeschedule or contact CRCA at (708) 449-3340. Officials. MRCA Conference & ExpoTechnical & Research SessionsReflectivity in the Real World TPO1992 to presentA Reflectivity Study Presented by Rene Dupuis PhD PE, Technical Advisor to Presented by Matt Dupuis PhD PE, Technical Advisor to MRCA MRCA and Thomas Taylor PhD, Exec. Director R&D, GAF In2012theMRCAconductedafieldinvestigationintotheThermoplastic Polyolefin (TPO) roof membrane came to us in-servicereflectivityofhighlyreflectivepolymermodifiedfrom Europe where it is known as Flexible Polyolefin (FPO). bitumenmembranesinseveralmetropolitanareasinTexasTo the roofing contractor TPO membrane is a weldable rubber [Highly Reflective, Professional Roofer, May, 2013]. The resultslike material. But the technology is quite complex from there. of this study were rather eye opening. It was found that most ofUltraviolet (UV) stability is important and is achieved with the membranes did not achieve or in some cases not come evenchemical stabilizers among other things. Thermal stability close,totheirspecifiedagedreflectivity.Thedatasuggested(heat aging) is also important to the formulation. that service environment had a very determinant roll in in-situThe United States first saw TPO membrane officially enter reflectivity. Given the sobering results of that study, and thethe market in 1992. Many manufacturers followed suit and high market share of single ply membranes in the United States,began to formulate their own TPO membranes; typically in the MRCA T&R committee elected to conduct a second phasethe 045 and 060 thicknesses. Since that time, changes have of the 2012 study to look at single ply membranes.been made with product standards and product formulations. Therefore, in the fall of 2015 the MRCA conducted this studySome of these changes led to problems, others moved the of in-situ reflectivity for reflective single ply roof membranesproduct to maturity. (TPO, PVC and EPDM). This study was conducted on almostThis program will cover the history of TPO in the United 100 in-service roofs i n three climate zones in the United States;States and where the membrane is today. Recent independent includingHot/Dry(Phoenix,AZ),Hot/Humid(Miami,FL)testing has shown that some of the current TPO membranes and Cool/Dry (Chicago, IL). The presentation at the MRCAare showing a very high level of heat aging endurance and convention will cover the techniques and instrumentation usedresistance to UV. Learn firsthand from the manufacturing forthisstudy,aswellasreportingpreliminaryfindingsandside and the consulting side about the performance of this conclusions.widely used membrane. Register Today at www.mrca.org 8 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'