The Number One Question You Must Ask About Building Film Installation

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 happen to be around for quite some time, specialist films such as anti graffiti and anti fog films are also 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 can be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some security and safety films are usually obtainable 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 virtually all films to protect from daily wear and tear.

Window film may be fitted to most type of glazing, also they can all be fitted to flat glass but some films may also be fitted to raised or patterned glass depending on the flexibility of the film and the sort of pattern, should the pattern is too raised the movie might not be successfully installed, however there is frequently a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem sort of glazing can be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. It is because the glass is curved in two directions, the movie may be easily applied to glass curved in one direction but if it's really a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the film, specialist car window tints are accessible for this, they are often a thinner material and are specially made to be heat shrinkable more so than a standard window film.

There are actually three technologies which provide different performance characteristics, these are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.

Dyed films are usually on the cheaper end of visit the up coming post market but these films shouldn't be disregarded, as there are some excellent dyed films on the market. The bottom end of the market is glue tinted, glue tinted films possess 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 remain sold in Europe. These films are not usually particularly colour stable, as there's very little protection for the dye, as such also they can fade quickly. Since the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour isn't always uniform as well as the colour can be moved during installation.

A greater sort of dyed film is just one which has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film is much more colour stable as it is protected by the polyester sheets, this actually also 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 ten years warranty.

Among the common misconceptions with dyed film is that it can disperse heat in to the property. As dyed films can absorb heat and it's fitted inside it's easy to find out why people think this. However most of the heat is held within 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 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 should be 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 by way of a tank of metal ingots (usually aluminum or nickel chrome, but sometimes copper). Pressure is then reduced in the tank creating a vacuum and also the tank is filled with argon gas. In the event 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 films surface in an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled effortlessly by altering the speed of the film over the chamber.

Sputtering will be the most complicated procedure for creating window film. This process can also be executed in a vacuum but the metallization in the 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 across 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 significantly 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 therefore warranties are usually a decade to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most costly process to achieve and as a result sputtered window film is at the higher end of price range