The Complete Guide To Understanding Building Film

Window film is a self-adhesive material that can 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 a while, 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 may be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some 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 may be found on many films to protect from every day wear and tear.

Window film may be fitted to most type of glazing, 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 as well as the type of pattern, if the pattern is too raised the movie might not be successfully installed, however there will be a flat side to all patterned glass. Another problem type of glazing may be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. It is because the glass is curved in two directions, the movie may be quickly applied to glass curved in one direction but if it's a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the film, 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 provide different performance characteristics, these are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.

Dyed films are often on the cheaper end of the market but these films should not be disregarded, as there are actually 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 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 quickly. Because the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour just isn't always uniform and also the colour may be moved during installation.

A better type of dyed film is just one that has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this content film is much more colour stable since 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 just as much as 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 is easy to determine why people think this. However a lot 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 are not always ideal for this type of glazing and you should be 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 in the tank creating a vacuum and 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 within an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled quickly by altering the speed of the film over the chamber.

Sputtering will be the most complicated procedure for creating window film. This process is additionally carried out in a vacuum though 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 referred to 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 various 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 which has very little mirrored effect, heat absorption or colour shift and thus warranties tend to be 10 years to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most expensive process to achieve and thus sputtered window film is at the larger end of price range