The Truth About Building Film Installation In 3 Little Words

Window film is a self-adhesive material that can be applied to new or existing glazing to solve a range of problems. Solar control, privacy, decorative and anti shatter films are already around for many years, 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 after that a thin polyester backing liner. Additional sheets of polyester may be found on many films, two sheets of polyester is called two-ply, some safety films also are 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 a large number of films to protect from daily wear and tear.

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

You will find three technologies that give different performance characteristics, these are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.

Dyed films are usually on the cheaper end of the market but these films shouldn't be disregarded, as you will find 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 necessarily 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 they may fade quickly. Since the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour is not always uniform and also the colour may be moved during installation.

An even better sort of dyed film is just one which has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film will be much more colour stable because it is protected by the polyester sheets, additionally, this 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 just as much as several years warranty.

Among 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 determine 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 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 ideal for this type of glazing and you should ensure 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 through a tank of metal ingots (usually aluminum or nickel chrome, but sometimes copper). Pressure is then reduced within the tank creating a vacuum and also 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 in an even layer. The density of the metal deposits can 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 accomplished 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 generally 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 several 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 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