Lumisty

This mylar reinforced polyester changes translucency according to the viewing angle.

Lumisty is a cleverly named material. It is a view control window film which scatters incident light from certain angles whilst transmitting incident light from all other angles. Blending luminescence with ‘mistyness’ is exactly what this polymer does, changing in the appearance of Lumisty changes from transparent to translucent depending on the angle from which it is viewed.

It is made from mylar, an extraordinarily strong polyester film. Mylar is a brand name for BoPET, or biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate. Put simply, this is a high-strength version of the common PET polymer. The Lumisty material’s unique effect is the result of its microstructure. It was originally invented for ATM screens as a security concept, but the material is now finding more applications in the field of architecture.

The Lumisty appears clear or frosted depending on your viewing angle and comes in 3 types. One is clear when viewed straight-on, frosted when viewed from one side. The second is clear when viewed straight-on, frosted when viewed from either side. The last is the opposite of this: it is frosted when viewed straight-on but clear when viewed from either side.

Applications include interior glass, acrylic and polycarbonate surfaces. These could be retail or exhibition displays, active graphics, privacy and security screening and view control on glazed balustrades and walkways. The material can be used is used to enhance the eye-catching appearance of shop window displays in a wide variety of retail sectors. The view control film can simply be added to an existing display or can be combined with special lighting effects such as back-projection when designing a brand new window dressing.