The Single Most Important Thing You Need To Know About Film Installation

Window film is a self-adhesive material that may 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 quite some time, specialist films for example anti graffiti and anti fog films also are 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 and security 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 a scratch resistant coating can be found on nearly all of films to protect from every day wear and tear.

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

You will find 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 very good 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 absolutely 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 is very little protection for the dye, as such they can fade quickly. Since the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour just isn't always uniform and the colour can be moved during installation.

A better type of dyed film is just one which has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film is much more colour stable because 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 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 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 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 type 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 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 conveniently by altering the speed of the movie throughout the chamber.

Sputtering is the most complicated procedure for creating window film. This process is additionally executed in a vacuum though the metallization in 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 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 types of metals can be used; various metals can be chosen to subtract specific radiation from the solar spectrum. The metalized coating is much 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 therefore warranties tend to be ten years to lifetime. Sputtering is the most costly process to achieve and therefore sputtered window film will be at the larger end of price range