CAR FILMS: Visitors to IIMS 2008 take a look at auto films at auto film stands. A variety of auto films are also on display at the country’s biggest car expo in Jakarta. (JP/P.J. Leo)

Far from being mere "window dressing", today's most advanced window film is equipped with technologies capable of doing anything from dodging harmful solar rays to saving energy and minimizing damage caused by bullets and bomb blasts.

A standard feature in any car, window film is friendly to the passenger's unshielded eye and can cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of rupiah per installation. So far, the 2008 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) has proven to be quite an effective platform in showcasing the latest trends in window film for cars as well as properties.

"In the most basic sense, window film can deflect harmful infrared light, visible light and ultraviolet light," said Pekik Saduprastawa, a key account manager for automotive window film at PT 3M Indonesia.

As an innovation company, 3M -- mostly known for its award-winning adhesive and abrasive brands such as Post-its -- has the luxury of owning several patented technologies in areas like polyester carbon and nano multilayer optical films to come up with its own state-of-the-art window films.

Window film's heat-reflecting quality also helps keep down energy that would otherwise be used to attend to comfort matters such as air conditioning. Before the turn of the century, heat resistance had been largely maximized through the incorporation of metal elements into the film's material composition. In recent years, however, the industry has been seen veering toward the more non-metallic film type.

"Although metals remain an effective medium for blocking heat, they often lead to interference problems, particularly with GPS and signal-based devices as well as mobile phones and portable television," said H*per Optik manager Damar Muliyanto.

With technology becoming more inescapably digital, film manufacturers have since researched other materials that can deliver the same amount of heat resistance as metal (or even greater); such as H*per Optik found with ceramics.

"Our company is the first and only in the world to implement nano-ceramic technology onto window film," said Damar, adding that ceramics' high durability and record-breaking melting point has been acknowledged across industries such as sports (racing), timepieces, medical surgery (bone and muscle replacements) and aeronautics (heat shields).

And the technology need not stop there. Spurred by advances in terrorism methods, manufacturers are going all-out in developing a most sophisticated adhesive technology that can prevent the dangers of glass breaking, in which case broken pieces would not shatter in all directions but instead stick to the film layer behind the glass.

"For years H*per has been actively researching a safe-blast technology to effectively minimize explosive damage, say such as that caused by a bomb," said Damar. "Our ongoing tests made sure that even in the most extreme case when a glass shatters into powder, it will still hold together owing to the film's strong adhesive."

According to Edmond Y. Daud, regional sales manager for PT Eurokars Tirta Utama, the quality of the glass in question is also important, though not extremely detrimental to safety.

"There have been many efforts to increase glass quality in recent years, which have resulted in innovations such as tempered glass -- which breaks into kernel-sized pieces upon breaking -- and laminated glass, which has a polyester layer imbedded inside it to strengthen glass constitution."

But Edmond also noted the slight inconvenience of glass types: that they are heavy.

Pekik said: "In order to meet the specs of a bulletproof glass, for example, you'd need to have glass or double-glass many centimeters thick, whereas by using two layers of film you can minimize thickness down to about 3 cm only."

Yet the truth is, as added by Pekik, there are no rules of thumb when it comes to dodging bullets. "Everything from the make of gun, the caliber and range of fire all influence the final result. For instance, no matter how thick glass is, it would be extremely difficult to prevent penetration by high-velocity weapons such as snipers' guns," he said.

George Saptawandra, director of Ace Security Laminates, sees the prospect of security film to be quite healthy in coming years. He was a telecommunications entrepreneur up until a couple of years ago, when the prospect of switching businesses -- and his wife's two traumatic personal experiences when driving alone -- led him to become more familiar with the world of security laminates.

"With the crime rate and traffic points continuing to escalate, every individual will be forced to take responsibility for his or her own safety," said George.

The Ace brand excels in strong adhesive technology specialized in withstanding large forces of impact. Ace's Secure PLUS film variants are said to be able to hold forces of up to 16.87 kilograms per square inch, making it highly shielded from deliberate smashing from outside a car or a property.

"We're not claiming that our films can make a glass unbreakable. Glass will always break, but the question lies in how much of an impact is needed for it to break and whether the shattered pieces will be penetrated," said George.

One of the most common public misconceptions about window film, in the words of both Damar and Edmond, is that "many people tend to associate darker-colored films with greater heat resistance".

This is not always the case, said Damar, because there are various dyed films being sold on the market whose color will fade with use, and will present potential health problems should the dye particles get inhaled.

Edmond added: "We also saw a boom in the 1990s of metallized films, which are clear films that can offer a great deal of heat resistance. Once again, these films are still infused with metal elements that lead to GPS interruption."

Like many other players in the industry, Edmond acknowledged the fact that film manufacturers have not yet been able to come up with a technology advanced enough to allow heat to be reflected through clear window film.

"But every new innovation that comes up seems to be heading toward that direction, so let's keep our hopes high," he said.

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