Here’s a list of key terms you might come across when researching window film and tinting:

Adhesive

The chemical layer that serves to bind a window film to glass or other smooth surface. Solutia’s Performance Films division offers a variety of such adhesives to serve different product needs. CDF (clear, distortion free), HPR (a pressure-sensitive adhesive called “high performance resin,” generally for automotive films and a few architectural products), PS (“pressure sensitive,” high impact, high peel-strength, generally for safety/security films), and RPS (a PS adhesive intended for easier removability than standard PS).

Curing (drying) time

The duration of time that must pass for all application solution used during installation to evaporate from beneath the film and for the film’s adhesive system to reach maximum bond strength.

Dual reflectance

The characteristic of a window film whose inside and outside surfaces have different visible light reflectance values. For a variety of reasons, some films are designed so that, for example, they are more reflective (shiny) to the exterior (to improve solar heat rejection) and less reflective to the interior (to reduce interior reflection of artificial lighting at night).

Fenestration

The arrangement, proportioning, and design of windows and doors in a building. From the Latin word, “fenestra,” meaning “window.”

Glazing

The process of installing glass or panels into the sash or frame of the window; or the window panel material itself (glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, etc.).

Infrared radiation

That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum embracing both the near-infrared and far-infrared bands extending from 780-200,000 nanometers. Invisible to the human eye, this form of radiation is felt only as heat, and is easily absorbed by most objects, causing their temperatures to climb; 53% of the sun’s energy reaching Earth is in the form of infrared.

Low-e films

Films with improved far-infrared heat reflection, with the ability to reduce winter heat loss through windows. The reflection of far-infrared heat also reduces the need for summer cooling by reducing the transmission of far-infrared heat from outdoor objects through windows into the interior of a home or building.

Neutral films

The term “neutral,” as applied to certain metallized films, refers to those films that have a very uniform (flat) transmission throughout the visible portion of the solar spectrum, resulting in an excellent transmitted color balance with no region of the color spectrum being preferentially transmitted over the others.

Total solar energy rejected (TSER)

The percent of incident solar energy rejected by a glazing system. This value equals solar reflectance plus the part of solar absorption that is both re-radiated and conducted/convected outwardly. Like “shading coefficient” in the glass industry, this term has been a standard one in the film industry. The number is a good way to compare relative performance of various products.

Visible light transmittance (VLT)

The ratio of the amount of total visible solar energy (380-780 nanometers) that is allowed to pass through a glazing system to the amount of total visible solar energy falling on the glazing system. Value is usually expressed as a percent. The smaller this number, the greater the glare reduction.