Industry Officials Predicted an External Films Revolution

"With the U.S. glass and glazing industries moving steadily toward a triple-pane standard, it is inevitable that window film providers will want to provide a suitable competing product. With triple-pane insulating units, the threat of stress fracture is increased exponentially. For this reason, external films have become prevalent in Europe where triple pane and sloped glazing is already widely in use."

Perhaps in preparation for this, U.S. window film manufacturers have begun to unveil external products, which use pressure sensitive adhesives. Several industry officials sat down with WINDOW FILM magazine at last year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas to discuss the implications of glass technology and external films for the American market. Nearly a year later, as the U.S. Department of Energy spurring the glazing industry on toward higher efficiency, it appears the views of these industry officials have proven to be on par.

“In Europe, in cases where it’s even iffy, the installers will not take chances,” explained Yochi Solna, product and sales manager for Hanita Coatings. “They just started putting on exterior films to be sure. And that developed into a huge market.”

Solna said the concept took hold in Europe and he expected the same to hold true for the U.S., as glazing becomes increasingly advanced.

“I would speculate maybe 30 percent of the film that is installed in Europe is exterior film-all because the installer wants to be sure that glass breakage will not occur,” he said.

Read more at http://www.windowfilmmag.com/index.php/archives/527