What is delamination

<p>Delamination occurs when 2 layers seperate from each other&period; This can happen between many different types of material&period; Delamination can occur between 2 layers of paint&comma; but also between a wax and a coating&period; Even when windowtint seperates from the window&comma; it can be referred to as delamination&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Whats is delamination<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>When a certain substance is applied on top of another substance&comma; it is generally intended for these 2 layers to remain attached to each other&period; The bond between these layers depends on several variables then can differ between types of substance&period; This bond can be mechanical or chemical&period; In some cases this bond fails&comma; and different types of energy&sol;force can exert a force greater then the strength of the bond between these substances&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;For example&semi; if a wrap is appied to a body panel&comma; the bond between the wrap and the paintwork underneath depends on the chemical bond of the glue on the wrap&period; If the glue can&&num;8217&semi;t adhere properly to the paintwork surface&comma; the wrap will not &&num;8220&semi;stick&&num;8221&semi; to the bodypanel&period; Due to tension in the wrap from stretching it&comma; the force of the pull caused by this tension can exert a force greater then the bond between the 2 layers&period; The result is that the wrap will delaminate&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Another example could be when a bodypanel is reparayed&comma; but badly prepared for the respray&period; The new layer of paintwork will not bond properly with the old layer of paintwork&period; Due to stress in the material&comma; the new layer of paint might eventually start to delaminate&period; This can be seen as patches of paintwork that start to come off&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Delamination of the clear coat is often seen in heavily damaged and&sol;or oxidized paintwork&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What causes delamination<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The bond between 2 substances is either mechanical or chemical&period; Mechanical bonding refers to the use of objects that hold the material in place&comma; such as welding&comma; screws&comma; rivets or clams&period; Chemical bonding refers to the use of a third substance that acts as a medium to keep the 2 materials together&comma; such as glue&period; Some substances&comma; such as paint&comma; is applied in a liquid form and during the &&num;8220&semi;curing&&num;8221&semi; process it creates a chemical bond with the material underneath that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t need glue or any other medium to create the bond&period; This is still a form of chemical bonding&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The bonding&comma; whether chemical or mechanical&comma; is subject to the strength of the bond&period; If a screw or weld is not strong enough to take the forces exerted onto the material&comma; it will fail and release one or more of the materials&period; Chemical bonding can also fail when the chemicals have not been succesful in creating a strong bond&period; This might happen when you try to apply windowtint to a very dirty&comma; or greasy window&period; The tint will try to bond with the dirt or grease&comma; but not with the glass itself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Delamination and protection<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Delamination is most often mentioned when visual sign of failure are clear&period; But some delamination can be to subtle and small to be seen with the naked eye&period; Many protective products can suffer delamination without any visual signs&period; If the paintwork hasn&&num;8217&semi;t been cleaned properly&comma; a coating might not bond properly with the surface underneath and eventually fail&period; The only visual signs are that the protection is visually failling &lpar;no more beads&comma; sheeting is gone&comma; dirt is more difficult to clean off etc&period;&rpar;&period; This also goes for sealant and waxes&period; Although wax is generally much less supseptive of faillure due to incorrect prepping of the surface&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Preventing delamination<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The key to prevent delamination is preperation of both surfaces&period; This generally means that the surface needs to be cleaned properly&comma; and any unwanted particles and&sol;or contamination needs to be removed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;For example&comma; when applying paint to a surface&comma; the surface needs to be free of dust&comma; dirt&comma; grease and any unwanted particles&period; In many cases&comma; the surface is sanded lightly to increase the size of the surface&comma; so there is more surface to contact with&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In cases of applying coatings or sealants&comma; it is important to clay&comma; polish and wipe down the surface carefully&period; If the surface is perfectly clean&comma; the protective product will bond much better and the durability of the product will be a lot better&period; Spending a few hours extra on preparing the surface&comma; might result in several weeks &lpar;or months&rpar; of extra protection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;