3M Fragment Retention Window Film

Several years ago, the General Services Administration (GSA) mandated a universal standard for measuring the level of blast protection provided by security films. The GSA developed criteria for evaluation of acceptable levels of protection for the glass fragment hazard. This criteria is part of the comprehensive security criteria (GSA Security Criteria, Final Working Version, January 1997) developed by the GSA which includes physical security, electronic security, and many other criteria for blast considerations. The GSA has indicated a preference, but not a requirement, for open-air high explosive testing rather than shock tube testing. This is because current shock tube testing methods cannot adequately emulate air blast waveforms from real explosions and tend to be over-energetic at the same peak blast pressure level versus real explosions.*

*Some text taken from independent testing firm, Applied Research Associates, Inc., 1/98

GSA Protection Standards

Performance Criteria	Protection Level	Hazard Level	Description of Window Glazing Response
1	Safe	None	Glazing does not break. No visible damage to glazing or frame.
2	Very High	None	Glazing cracks but is retained by the frame. Dusting or very small fragments near sill or on floor acceptable.
3a	High	Very Low	Glazing cracks. Fragments enter space and land on floor no further than 3.3 ft. from the window.
3b	High	Low	Glazing cracks. Fragments enter space and land on floor no further than 10 ft. from the window.
4	Medium	Medium	Glazing cracks. Fragments enter space and land on floor and impact a vertical witness panel at a distance of no more than 10 ft. from the window at a height no greater than 2 ft. above the floor.
5	Low	High	Glazing cracks and window system fails catastrophically. Fragments enter space impacting a vertical witness panel at a distance of no more than 10 ft. from the window at a height greater than 2 ft. above the floor.

ARA’s Major Findings

This test series showed that the 3M Ultra series of security films provides significant benefit in mitigating window glass fragment environments in blast. Per the GSA criteria, the 4 mil ULTRA400 (.004 inches) and the 6 mil ULTRA600 (.006 inches) 3M security films performed to the required levels for many of the configurations tested. Both products performed well up to blast pressures as high as 9 psi. Many configurations tested performed to the required level of protection for GSA Level C buildings at the maximum design load. Several other configurations performed to the required level of protection for Level D buildings up to 9 psi and for an impulse of about 50 psi-msec.

In its strongest configuration, 3M’s ULTRA600 achieved a Very High protection level and a Condition 2 on the GSA rating scale when tested with a standoff distance of 121 feet and a peak pressure of 9 psi.

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