Building Film Reviews Tips
Window film is a self-adhesive material that will be applied to new or existing glazing to solve a number of problems. Solar control, privacy, decorative and anti shatter films happen to be around for quite a while, specialist films such as anti graffiti and anti fog films are usually being commonly used in today's' market.
In its simplest form window film is a thin sheet of polyester, adhesive and after that a thin polyester backing liner. Additional sheets of polyester may be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some security films will also be available in three ply. A metalized or dyed layer can sometimes be added between these sheets of polyester to add colour or tint as well as a scratch resistant coating can be found on nearly all of films to protect from daily wear and tear.
Window building film installation can be fitted to most type of glazing, they may all be fitted to flat glass but some films could also be fitted to raised or patterned glass based on the flexibility of the film as well as the type of pattern, if the pattern is too raised the film might not be successfully installed, however there is usually a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem sort of glazing can be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. This is because the glass is curved in two directions, the movie can be easily applied to glass curved in one direction but if it's a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the movie, specialist car window tints are available for this, they are usually a thinner material and are specially made to be heat shrinkable more so than a standard window film.
There are three technologies which give different performance characteristics, they are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.
Dyed films are often on the cheaper end of the market but these films shouldn't be disregarded, as you will find some good dyed films in the marketplace. The bottom end of the market is glue tinted, glue tinted films have the dye mixed with the adhesive (scratch resistant coating (not absolutely present), polyester sheet(s), adhesive mixed with dye, backing liner). These are usually sold on the Asian and South American market but are still sold in Europe. These films are not usually particularly colour stable, as there's very little protection for the dye, as such they may fade quickly. Because the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour is not always uniform as well as the colour may be moved during installation.
A better type of dyed film is one which has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film will be much more colour stable because it is protected by the polyester sheets, this also provides no problems when installing as the adhesive is clear and there may be no colour shift. These films can frequently be supplied with just as much as 10 years warranty.
Among the common misconceptions with dyed film is the fact that it can disperse heat in to the property. As dyed films can absorb heat and it's fitted inside it's easy to see why people think this. However most of the heat is held in the glass and because the wind speed outside is so much greater than inside (wind speed averages over 15mph outdoors but only ˝ mph indoors) the external air draws the heat outside. Some heat is leaked in to the property but most heat is dissipated outdoors.
As double glazed units allow no air movement in between the glass, interior dyed films are not always well suited for this sort of glazing and also you should be sure that you check on it's suitability before installing as installation on the wrong type of glazing can cause thermal cracking.
Deposited window film is created by drawing film by way of a tank of metal ingots (usually aluminum or nickel chrome, but sometimes copper). Pressure is then reduced within the tank creating a vacuum and also the tank is filled with argon gas. When the tank is filled with gas the metal ingots will be the heated, the heat causes the metal to give up particles, which in turn migrate to the movies surface in an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled easily by altering the speed of the movie throughout the chamber.
Sputtering will be the most complicated procedure for creating window film. This process is additionally completed in a vacuum however the metallization inside this process is achieved at atomic level. Electromagnetic fields direct streams of ions from a chemically inert gas (usually Argon) towards the metal. This ion bombardment (often generally known as "atomic billiards") causes groups of atoms to dislodge in small bursts and scatter uniformly throughout the film.
The advantages of sputtering are that around 30 different kinds of metals may be used; various metals can be chosen to subtract specific radiation from the solar spectrum. The metalized coating is a lot lighter; a sputtered metal can be created in a layer one-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair.
The result of sputtering is a highly reflective layer which has very little mirrored effect, heat absorption or colour shift and thus warranties are usually 10 years to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most costly process to achieve and thus sputtered window film is at the bigger end of price range
