Page 101 - New Trends in Green Construction

ASSESSMENT OF EARLY DEGRADATION OF GLAZING SYSTEMS WITH DAMAGED SOLAR CONTROL FILMS
Júlia Pereira, Henriqueta Teixeira, Maria da Glória Gomes, António Moret Rodrigues
Keywords: solar control film, early degradation, glazing system 1. Introduction
Solar control films (SCF) are an innovative and efficient solution for glazing refurbishment in buildings. These materials, when correctly applied on the glass surface, can increase the thermal and energy performance of indoor environments by altering the thermal and optical properties of the glass (Moretti, 2015). According to EN 15755-1, these films change the solar factor of the glass by modifying parameters, such as the solar transmission, reflection, absorption and transmission of ultraviolet and visible light.
The present study intends to identify the current state and conditions of solar control films applied on the external surface of the glazing system of a building of the case study that suffered an early degradation. For this, several inspections were made in order to evaluate the main problems associated with the current glazing system.
2. Materials and methods
The building of the case study is located near the Tagus estuary in Lisbon, Portugal, and mainly consists of offices and conference rooms. The building presents a high window-to-wall ratio and, due to several problems associated with high solar gains through the glazing system, a solar control film (SCF) with a high reflective coefficient was installed. However, the film suffered an early degradation and shows several problems regarding its integrity. Several exploratory visits were made in order to assess all the pathologies existing in the glazing system of the case study.
3. Results and conclusions
Figure 1 shows some of the existing pathologies representative of the actual SCF degradation conditions that consist essentially on tears (Figure 1 a), cracks (Figure 1 b), blistering (Figure 1 c), lack of transparency (Figure 1 d), detachment (Figure 1 e) and deterioration of the external layers of the film (Figure 1 f).
101
New Trends in Green Construction