A Complete Introduction To Building Film
Window film is a self-adhesive material that may be applied to new or existing glazing to solve a number of problems. Solar control, privacy, decorative and anti shatter films are already around for quite some time, specialist films for example 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 then a thin polyester backing liner. Additional sheets of polyester may be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some safety films will also be obtainable in three ply. A metalized or dyed layer can sometimes be added between these sheets of polyester to add colour or tint and also a scratch resistant coating can be found on nearly all of films to protect from every day wear and tear.
Window film can be fitted to most type of glazing, also they can all be fitted to flat glass but some films can also be fitted to raised or patterned glass determined by the flexibility of the film as well as the type of pattern, should the pattern is too raised the movie may not be successfully installed, Home however there will be a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem type of glazing can be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. This really is because the glass is curved in two directions, the film may be easily applied to glass curved in one direction but if it is a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the movie, specialist car window tints are available for this, these are often a thinner material and also are specially made to be heat shrinkable more so than a standard window film.
You will discover three technologies which give different performance characteristics, these are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.
Dyed films tend to be on the cheaper end of the market but these films shouldn't be disregarded, as you can find some great dyed films on the market. The bottom end of the marketplace is glue tinted, glue tinted films have the dye mixed with the adhesive (scratch resistant coating (not always 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 is very little protection for the dye, as such they can fade very quickly. Because the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour is just not always uniform as well as the colour can be moved during installation.
A greater type of dyed film is just one that has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film is a lot more colour stable since it is protected through the polyester sheets, and also this provides no problems when installing as the adhesive is clear and there can be no colour shift. These films can very often be supplied with around several years warranty.
One of the common misconceptions with dyed film is the fact that it can disperse heat into the property. As dyed films can absorb heat and it's fitted inside it's easy to view why people think this. However a lot of the heat is held within the glass and since 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 aren't always suitable for this kind of glazing and also you must make sure that you check on it's suitability before installing as installation on the wrong type of glazing may 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 quit particles, which in turn migrate to the movies surface in an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled effortlessly by altering the speed of the movie throughout the chamber.
Sputtering will be the most complicated process for creating window film. This process can also be performed in a vacuum but the metallization in this particular 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 across the film.
The benefits of sputtering are that around 30 several types of metals may be used; various metals may 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 that has very little mirrored effect, heat absorption or colour shift and thus warranties tend to be a decade to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most costly process to achieve and as a result sputtered window film is at the bigger end of price range
