How to choose the thickness of paint protection film?
When owners choose vehicle paint protection film, they believe that the thicker the film, the better. Each type of car paint protection film has varying thickness specifications, and the cost increases as the thickness increases. Is a thicker film always preferable? How thick should the PPF be?
1. Thickness of paint protective film
The paint protective film is mainly composed of coating, TPU substrate and glue, of which TPU substrate accounts for 70%, so the thickness of the coating film is mainly determined by TPU substrate.
In terms of specifications, the common thickness of paint protection film is mainly 6.5 mil/7. 5 mil/8. 0 mil/8. 5 mil/9. 5 mil, and even 10 mil.
2.Small tips
Mil, which is a unit of length, representing one thousandth of an inch, by which 1mil = 0.0254 mm, and 2mil is equivalent to the thickness of a piece of A4 paper, so it is difficult to distinguish the different thicknesses of the car clear bra with naked eyes, and a professional thickness gauge should be used for measurement.
The focus of the phrase “the thicker the paint protective film, the greater the protective performance” is on the assumption of the same brand of the same series of products, or the application of TPU substrate, coating, adhesive, and other materials of equivalent grade. Even if it is thicker, the tpu film created from interior material is inferior to the superior film.
One chopstick is simple to break, but breaking ten pairs of chopsticks is challenging. In the same way, the stronger the resistance to external damage, the wider the cross section, and the superior protective performance, such as scratch resistance and wear resistance, the thicker the thickness, when other parameters remain unchanged.
3. The thicker the film, the better? No!
The tensile strength of the PPF film is directly proportional to its thickness, so during installation, the thicker the PPF film is, the more laborious it is to stretch, the worse the construct ability is, and the higher the level of the installer is required.
Additionally, when the thickness of the paint protective film increases, its stiffness rises in lockstep and its ductility falls. The edges and corners are more prone to warping and degumming over time if materials with low ductility are utilized.
Therefore, with the increase of thickness, the physical properties of TPU substrate are required to be higher, and the properties of elasticity, stretch ability, ductility and toughness need to be balanced.
If the film is too thin, the protective performance will be reduced, and if it is too thick, it will increase the construction difficulty and the risk of edge warping and degumming. What thickness is the most suitable?
The characteristics of PPF film with various thicknesses are listed as follows, which can be referred to when selecting, in accordance with the actual application scenario of cover film and the manufacturer’s test data:
6.5 mil: The film lightly thin with common protective performance, which is a basic economic product and covers a wider range of models;
7.5 mile: It is a part of the market’s mainstream; it has been demonstrated that its pricing is quite fair and that both its protection and construction performances are reasonably matched;
More than 8 mil: the film is thick and has strong protection performance, but it has high requirements for installation; It also requires high matching degree between basement membrane and glue, but if the material selection is improper, there may be risks such as degumming and edge warping in the later stage.
The substrate plays the core characteristics of scratch resistance, friction resistance and tensile resistance. When choosing the film for car PPF films, we must check the quality of TPU substrate.
Product advantages of KOTINT
KOTINT’s substrate is aliphatic polycaprolactone TPU, a material designed specifically for paint protection film . After undergoing numerous testing, its hardness, elasticity, wear resistance, mechanical strength, process ability, and other indices are the highest and most consistent. Due to the greater density of aliphatic TPU, the contact sites with glue and coating are denser and adhesion is enhanced, hence reducing the likelihood of edge warping and degumming.
Strong technical advantages, a global professional high-precision special film casting line, and a mature TPU film production process are the strengths of KOTINT. The TPU substrate that is created is uniform in thickness, stable, and trustworthy in quality thanks to the potent combination of high-quality TPU masterbatch; according to client feedback, even at higher thicknesses, there is almost no edge warping and degumming in the constructed automobile paint protection film. In addition, KOTINT products have gained widespread market acceptance because to their outstanding benefits in a number of areas, including anti-yellowing, anti-ultraviolet, wear resistance, anti-corrosion, and transparency.
KOTINT will keep offering top-notch products for the market for car paint protection film as a pioneer in high-performance functional films.
