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What is Mylar and How is it Used?
Practically everyone has seen those reflective, silver special occasion balloons that children and adults alike seem to go crazy for. I am not talking about the boring matte latex balloons of yesteryear, but rather the fancy helium filled delights that seem to flank every birthday celebration and Valentines day gift. But what are those lovely balloons made out of and where did this material come from? The new fangled balloons of today are made of Mylar and following is a brief history of this amazing substance.
Mylar is an astonishingly strong polyester film that was created in the early 1950s by a company by the name of DuPont. During the 1960s cellophane gave way steadily to Mylar because of Mylar’s superior strength and durability, resistance to heat, and excellent insulating properties. The unique qualities of Mylar made new markets for consumers possible in magnetic video and audio tape, capacitor dielectrics, packaging and batteries. In the 1960’s, NASA launched it’s Echo satellites, which were one hundred foot diameter balloons that were made of metallic Mylar film that was approximately five thousandths of an inch thick. NASA’s use of Mylar was a great boon for DuPont’s business. By the 1970s, Mylar had become DuPont’s best-selling film. Mylar is now a product of a joint venture, DuPont Teijin Films.
To manufacture Mylar, a very thin sheet of extremely hot PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is placed on a roll. This extremely hot polyethylene terephthalate is then stretched very thin in all directions. One side of the Mylar is typically extremely smooth, while the other side has a microscopically rough quality which encourages all different types of coatings and print media to attach to the Mylar.
To create a form of Mylar that is much less permeable by gasses and highly reflective to light, Mylar may be aluminized. Mylar is aluminized by adding a thin film of metal to it’s surface during the manufacturing process. Aluminized Mylar has a shiny reflective side and a dull side, much like aluminum foil. However, in contrast to aluminum foil and tin foil, Mylar does not tear easily.
Mylar has many uses today, some may be unexpected. A few uses for Mylar include:
Performance sails for sailboats, solar sails as an alternative means of propulsion for spacecrafts, an electrical insulating material, a base material for audio and video tape, insulation for dwellings in a cold environment. Mylar emergency blankets are used to reflect a shock victim’s body heat back to the patient. Mylar solar curtains reflect sunlight and heat away from windows, and Mylar may also be used to direct sunlight or artificial light to indoor plants. Mylar in NASA’s spacesuits make them radiation resistant and keep astronauts warm. Mylar can be used as a protective covering over buttons, pins, and badges, Mylar can be used as the glossy top layer of a Polaroid print, Mylar may also be used as a material in kites. If you have a use for Mylar, it is readily available from online retailers. It may be purchased as Double Matte / Mylar Film rolls from various online resources.