U.V. Protective Coatings

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We hear a lot about U.V. protective glazing being able to filter 97% to 98% of U.V. light.

But, does anyone know how effective some of these other coatings are?

Laminates?
Sprays?
Gels?

[Dermot]

There are laboratories that will test for UV efficiency or you could buy some very expensive test equipment and do this work yourself.

Pilkington PLC in the UK does produce a small test unit that can be used to test whether glass has a UV protect on it.

I would not be to concerned as to the efficiency of UV products/glass, the published data is most likely all you need……….remember the framing industry is a very small area of requirement for UV protect products examples of other areas are Auto, Construction, Aerospace, Computer Monitors, etc.

UV protect has to many eyes on it for manufactures to issue out of date or inaccurate data, though do keep in mind as a professional it is your responsibility to keep yourself updated on industrial trends which would include the most up to date information on UV products/glass ask your sales rep. and only accept printed data information, if you don’t understand it ask your rep. they should be converse with this very important topic for framers if they do not know get a new sales rep. lack of knowledge for those selling UV products/glass into the framing industry would indicate to me a lack of interest on the rep’s part about the industry or possible more seriously a lack of interest on the part of the distributor who the rep. works for.

[Ron Eggers]

Less, I'd be interested in what type of glazing is claiming 99% UV filtering.

I think a bigger question might be: How much of the fading that occurs in framed prints is due to UV? How much is due to other parts of the light spectrum or due to intrinsic flaws in the print or environmental hazards other than light?

I'm sceptical about claims of UV filtering from sprays and gels. There are tremendous variations in applied thicknesses and - if they are truly effective - I'd be concerned about differential fading. This might even worse than overall fading. We've all seen cases where the latter actually improved the appearance of a particularly hideous image. :eek:

I think that applying a UV spray to protect a print from fading or other environmental hazards might be a case of doing more harm than good. And, yes, I've done this, but never for the purpose of UV protection.

[Jason Maranto]

Acrylite OP-2(UF-3) claims a 98% reduction in invisible UV light... and there's the rub, even if you could filter 100% of all the destructive invisible UV, you still will have fading from the blue and violet components of visible light which you cannot filter out unless you accept massive color shift in those areas.

I reccomend making art with lightfast materials, displaying it under UV protecting glass and using a UV filtering lightsource to light it. I personaly believe that artists and printers share the responsibilty of creating works which will last and recent legal actions have backed me up on this... hopefully artists will begin to figure this out -- if for no other reason than to keep themselves from being sued.

Jason.

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<font size=7><font color=Red><strike>99%</strike></font></font> <font size=7><font color=Red>98%</font></font>

details - details :rolleyes:

[Jason Maranto]

I found a company which claims 99%

http://www.framingsupply.com/why.htm

Any experience with this companies products?

Jason.

[Mel]

Originally posted by Jason Maranto:
and recent legal actions have backed me up on this... hopefully artists will begin to figure this out -- if for no other reason than to keep themselves from being sued.

Jason.Jason, would you mind elaborating on this statement? Very curious.

[Jason Maranto]

There was recently a lawsuit won by a woman out in california... she bought an acrylic painting as a investment which quickly deteriorated from a variety of factors (including smog) -- the artist she bought it from had to cough up the sale price and then some because it was deemed he used substandard materials and did not inform the customer.

Jason.