The Insider Secrets Of Building Film Discovered
Window film is a self-adhesive material that will be applied to new or existing glazing to solve a range of problems. Solar control, privacy, decorative and anti shatter films have been around for a long time, specialist films such as anti graffiti and anti fog films are usually being widely 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 can be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some safety films are also 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 may be found on many films to protect from every day wear and tear.
Window film can be fitted to most sort 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 and the sort of pattern, if the pattern is too raised the movie might not be successfully installed, however there can be a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem type of glazing may be compound curves found right here on gcom.edu.gh the windscreens of cars. It is because the glass is curved in two directions, the movie can be quickly 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 accessible for this, they are commonly a thinner material and also are specially made to be heat shrinkable more so than a standard window film.
You will find three technologies that offer different performance characteristics, they are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.
Dyed films tend to be on the cheaper end of the market but these films should not be disregarded, as there are actually some great dyed films in the marketplace. The bottom end of the marketplace is glue tinted, glue tinted films possess the dye mixed with the adhesive (scratch resistant coating (not necessarily present), polyester sheet(s), adhesive mixed with dye, backing liner). These are usually sold on the Asian and South American market but are nevertheless 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. Since the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour is not always uniform as well as the colour may be moved during installation.
An even better 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 by the polyester sheets, this actually also provides no problems when installing as the adhesive is clear and there may be no colour shift. These films can very often be supplied with around 10 years warranty.
One of 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 is fitted inside it's easy to view why people think this. However most of the heat is held in 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 into 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 appropriate for this kind of glazing and also you need to make sure that you check on it's suitability before installing as installation on the wrong sort of glazing can cause thermal cracking.
Deposited window film is created by drawing film through a tank of metal ingots (usually aluminum or nickel chrome, but sometimes copper). Pressure is then reduced in the tank creating a vacuum as well as the tank is filled with argon gas. In the event the tank is filled with gas the metal ingots are the heated, the heat causes the metal to quit particles, which in turn migrate to the films surface within an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled easily by altering the speed of the movie throughout the chamber.
Sputtering is the most complicated process for creating window film. This process is also carried out in a vacuum though 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 referred to as "atomic billiards") causes groups of atoms to dislodge in small bursts and scatter uniformly throughout the film.
The benefits of sputtering are that around 30 different kinds of metals can 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 as a result warranties are often 10 years to lifetime. Sputtering is the most costly process to achieve and as a result sputtered window film will be at the bigger end of price range
