Trident protective polymeric films are designed to hold glass together when it breaks on impact and act as a defensive shield to protect people and their property from damage and injury. Safety level window film is highly effective in reducing damage, but cannot hold the broken glass in the window frame under extreme stress. If hurricane winds or a sudden impact force is powerful enough, the filmed glass can be ejected from the frame. Certain types of seismic activity, blasts, or weather events can cause a glazing system to be literally sucked into a building posing an even further threat. The expulsion of filmed glass is far less dangerous than a shower of broken sheared off pieces of glass or tiny sharp projectile shards of uncoated glass. Keep in mind that a high velocity impact could still cause serious injury. In order to increase the level of protection that protective safety film can offer, it was necessary to develop anchoring /edge retention systems.

Protective Trident Films are attached to the glass by adhesives. The film is also attached to the frame with a retention system, and the frame is attached to the building by screws. Anchoring or Edge Retention systems using Trident are designed to turn your windows into a hazard defensive unit.

For your information, descriptions of several Anchoring or Edge Retention systems are listed below to help you understand some of the systems that may be proposed to you. We have performed tests proving the strength of our films and anchoring systems, but that alone says little about the correct solution for your application. Please contact a local window film professional who specializes in blast protection films and Edge Retention systems for further details.

The 3 categories of anchoring systems:

Wet Glaze, Screwed Mechanical, and Glued Mechanical; each have benefits and drawbacks.

The "Wet Glaze" method involves removing the rubber gaskets from the window frame and replacing it with Dow 995 Silicone, which overlaps the frame, glass, and film anchoring them all together. The positives of this system are lower cost and flexibility for different frame types.

The "Screwed Mechanical" system uses a metal angled frame, which is literally screwed into the frame and potentially the wall. The film is installed "oversized" to allow a wrap under the metal frame. Then, screws are placed through the anchoring frame/film into the window frame tying the system together. Screwed Mechanical systems are often the strongest option because of the wrap of film under the anchoring frame and longer screws can sometimes be used to increase the anchorage of the frame to the building, greatly increasing protection. Drawbacks include high cost and the permanent nature of the installation; if you ever wanted to remove the anchoring system, the frames will have holes exposed.

The "Glued Mechanical" system is an adhesive backed anchor medium. They can be flexible or stiff, but they come with adhesive already applied to one side. The installation is a relatively simple process of removing the protective backing strips and applying the adhesive side across the glass/frame edge. This is the easiest type of retention system to install, so less experience may be required. They are generally not as strong as top-of-the- line screwed-in systems, and since they are applied only on the surface of the film and the frame, they cannot help anchor the frame to the wall.

This article comes from johnsonwindowfilms edit released