With Regards To The Topic Of 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 have been around for several years, 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 can be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some security and safety 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 and also a scratch resistant coating can be found on virtually all films to protect from daily wear and tear.
Window film can be fitted to most sort 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 also the sort of pattern, should the pattern is too raised the film may not be successfully installed, however there can be a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem sort of glazing may be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. The reason being the glass is curved in two directions, the building film can be easily applied to glass curved in one direction but if it is a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the film, specialist car window tints are available for this, these are normally 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 provide different performance characteristics, these are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.
Dyed films are usually on the cheaper end of the market but these films should not be disregarded, as there are some great 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 necessarily present), polyester sheet(s), adhesive mixed with dye, backing liner). They 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 very quickly. Since the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour just isn't always uniform and also the colour may 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 significantly more colour stable as it is protected through the polyester sheets, this also provides no problems when installing as the adhesive is clear and there can be no colour shift. These films can frequently be supplied with as much as ten years warranty.
One of the common misconceptions with dyed film is that it can disperse heat into the property. As dyed films can absorb heat and it is fitted inside it is easy to view 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 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 well suited for this sort of glazing and you must 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. When the tank is filled with gas the metal ingots are the heated, the heat causes the metal to give up particles, which in turn migrate to the films surface within an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled conveniently by altering the speed of the movie through 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 within 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 across the film.
The advantages of sputtering are that around 30 several types of metals can be used; various metals may be chosen to subtract specific radiation from the solar spectrum. The metalized coating will be 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 that has very little mirrored effect, heat absorption or colour shift and as a result warranties are often a decade to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most costly process to achieve and as such sputtered window film is at the larger end of price range
