Unknown Facts About Building Film Made Known
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 many years, specialist films such as 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 security and safety films are also 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 can be found on nearly all of films to protect from daily wear and tear.
Window film can be fitted to most sort of glazing, they may all be fitted to flat glass but some films could also be fitted to raised or patterned glass determined by the flexibility of the movie as well as 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 can be compound curves found on the windscreens of cars. This is only because the glass is curved in two directions, the film can be effortlessly applied to glass curved in one direction but if it's a compound curve you will probably need to heat shrink the film installation, 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 can find three technologies which give different performance characteristics, they are; dyed, deposited and sputtered.
Dyed films are usually on the cheaper end of the market but these films should not be disregarded, as you will find some great dyed films on the market. The bottom end of the market is glue tinted, glue tinted films have 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 will still be 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 very quickly. Because the dye is mixed with the adhesive the colour just isn't always uniform and the colour may be moved during installation.
A greater type of dyed film is one which has the dye sandwiched inside two sheets of polyester, this film will be 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 just as much as 10 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's fitted inside it is easy to see 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 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 suited to this type of glazing and also you need to make 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 through a tank of metal ingots (usually aluminum or nickel chrome, but sometimes copper). Pressure is then reduced within 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 give up particles, which in turn migrate to the films surface in an even layer. The density of the metal deposits may be controlled quickly by altering the speed of the movie through the chamber.
Sputtering is the most complicated procedure for creating window film. This process is also performed 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 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 different types of metals may 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 as a result warranties tend to be a decade to lifetime. Sputtering will be the most costly process to achieve and as a result sputtered window film will be at the higher end of price range
