Cover Types & Categories
Custom-Fit Cover – A cover built to the exact geometry of a specific asset rather than sheets cut from stock rolls of film. For repetitive OEM products, the same pattern repeats across every unit, so fit and install time stay consistent.
Shrinkable Cover / Shrink-to-Fit Cover – A fabric cover that contracts to the asset’s shape when heat is applied, giving a tight fit without the single-use limits of commodity shrink wrap.
Cover Materials & Properties
Nonwoven Fabric – A fabric built from fibers bonded together rather than woven on a loom. In Transhield’s protective covers, it sits against the equipment as the inner layer, where its soft surface guards painted and finished surfaces from scratching and etching, and its fiber structure pulls moisture off the metal and carries it outward. The same layer adds tear and tensile strength to the cover overall.
Scrim Reinforcement / Scrim Reinforced Nonwoven – A lightweight open grid of woven mesh textile. The scrim is used as a layer within a composite nonwoven fabric. When laminated to a film or fabric, the scrim layers help to raise the tear and puncture resistance of the fabric and the covers. Because the grid carries load without adding much thickness or weight, it strengthens high-stress areas like corners, edges, and fastening points while keeping the cover flexible.
Heat-Shrinkable / Shrink-to-Fit – A material that tightens to the exact contour of an object when heat is applied, pulling slack out so the finished cover sits close against the surface. The snug result helps keep out rain and snow, resists wind lift during transport, and leaves fewer gaps for moisture and debris. Unlike a loose tarp, the fit is locked in once the material is shrunk.
Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) – The measured amount of water vapor that passes through a material over a specified period under defined temperature and humidity conditions. Transhield tests WVTR using ASTM F1249. When materials are tested under comparable conditions, a higher WVTR indicates that more water vapor can pass through the material. Equipment covers generally benefit from vapor transmission that allows trapped moisture to escape, while concrete curing materials require a low WVTR to retain moisture.
Corrosion, Moisture & Equipment Degradation
Corrosion – The electrochemical breakdown of metal, most often seen as rust, that happens when moisture and oxygen reach an unprotected surface. For equipment sitting in storage or moving across the country, corrosion is a major threat to value, degrading both function and appearance and driving warranty claims.
Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) – A corrosion-fighting chemistry, also called a volatile corrosion inhibitor, that protects metal through the air rather than by direct application. VCI molecules vaporize from their source, migrate through a reasonably enclosed space, and form a thin protective molecular layer on exposed metal. This layer helps interrupt corrosion reactions caused by moisture, oxygen, salts, and other contaminants. Because it travels as a vapor, it reaches recessed cavities and complex shapes a coating would miss, and the multi-metal formulation protects steel, aluminum, and other metals at once. It needs a reasonably enclosed space to hold an effective concentration, which is why Transhield embeds it in the cover’s adhesive layer. In testing, Transhield covers with VCI technology have cut corrosion by up to 95% for as long as the cover stays in place.
Passivation –The process of placing or maintaining a metal surface in a less chemically reactive condition so it is more resistant to corrosion. Some corrosion inhibitors (like Transhield’s VCIs) help support this condition by forming an adsorbed protective layer that slows the electrochemical reactions responsible for rust and corrosion.
Condensation – Water that forms when warm, humid air meets a cooler surface, such as bare metal under a cover on a cold morning. Left to collect, it feeds rust, mold, and mildew, which is why moving vapor out of the enclosed space matters as much as keeping liquid water from getting in.
Glass Delamination – Separation of the bonded layers in laminated glass, such as the cab windows and windshields on military equipment. Delamination can be accelerated by prolonged UV exposure, heat, moisture intrusion, damaged edges, or seal failure. It often appears as clouding, bubbling, discoloration, or peeling near the edges of the glass.
UV Degradation – The slow breakdown of paint, rubber, plastic, and seals under prolonged ultraviolet exposure. It shows up as faded paint, chalking, cracked rubber, and dry-rotted tires and seals, each of which lowers the resale and warranty value of stored equipment. A cover that blocks UV slows all of these at once.
Standards, Compliance & Procurement
Berry Amendment – A domestic-source law requiring the U.S. Department of Defense to buy certain covered products, including protective covers, tarpaulins, synthetic fabrics, and textile fibers, from U.S. sources. It is generally stricter than the Buy American Act, though procurement thresholds and specific exceptions may apply depending on the contract. All of Transhield’s military covers meet Berry Amendment requirements.
ISO 9001:2015 – An internationally recognized, independently audited standard for a quality management system. Certification signals that a manufacturer follows documented, repeatable processes and is checked against them on a recurring basis, which matters to buyers who need consistent quality across repeat orders.
Class A Surface – An industry term for a highly visible finished surface that must meet demanding appearance standards. The exact requirements may vary by manufacturer and industry. Covers used on Class A surfaces must protect the finish from scratching, rubbing, staining, and etching, making the softness and cleanliness of the inner layer especially important.
Concrete Curing
Curing Blanket – A cover laid over fresh concrete to hold in moisture during curing, supporting strength gain, and reducing surface cracking and dusting.
Wet Curing – A method that keeps the slab surface continuously moist through the cure window, as opposed to membrane-forming curing compounds.
ASTM C-171 – The specification covering sheet materials, including films and curing blankets, laid over fresh concrete to limit moisture loss as it cures. To comply, a material has to hold water vapor loss below a set rate and stay strong enough to resist puncturing and tearing under normal job-site handling. White reflective types must also meet a minimum daylight reflectance to reduce temperature rise from the sun. It is the spec a curing blanket is measured against for moisture retention.
Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) – A material that absorbs and holds large volumes of water. Some curing blankets rely on SAPs for moisture retention, though they can leave a sticky residue on the slab after removal. Transhield’s TopCure does not contain this additive.
Transhield Products & Technology
ArmorDillo® Equipment Covers – Transhield’s heaviest-duty, highest-strength cover for industrial and military equipment. This fabric utilizes patented technology, including a patented VCI adhesive slows corrosion by up to 95%, and a breathable polyurethane layer makes it the most breathable of the three materials. Offers the widest color range, plus vents, zipper doors, and graphics.
Transhield XT Heavy-Duty Covers – Balanced VCI protection at a little over half ArmorDillo’s weight. XT covers are built for extreme heat, humidity, cold, and snow. Its soft interior protects painted and CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) military finishes. The lightweight engineering allows cover design for large-size equipment.
Custom Shrink Wrap Covers (5-10 Mil) – Transhield’s shrink-to-fit material, branded as The Shrinkable Fabric®, in 5, 7, and 10.25 mil thicknesses. Custom-designed covers fit on the asset and can be heat-shrunk onto the equipment for shipping and season-long storage. VCI is optional on the lighter weights and included on the 10.25 mil.
TransTape® Heat Shrink Tape – A heat-shrink repair tape for patching burns, holes, rips, and tears in Transhield’s protective covers, and for reinforcing stress areas and sealing seams. Applied with a heat gun, it shrinks to conform to the surface and bonds into a watertight seal.
TopCure® Concrete Curing Blankets – Transhield’s concrete curing blanket, built to slow evaporation and hold moisture at the slab surface during curing. It meets ASTM C-171 and uses hydrating pods rather than super absorbent polymers, so it leaves no sticky residue.
Patented Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) Delivery – Transhield’s method of building the Vapor Corrosion Inhibitors into the cover’s middle adhesive layer rather than adding it as a loose insert. The soft inner layer holds the adhesive away from the metal so the VCI vaporizes into the enclosed space, and heat-shrinking the cover speeds the initial release.
Three-Layer Construction – The build behind Transhield’s fabric covers: a UV-resistant outer film that sheds weather, a middle adhesive layer that carries the optional VCI technology, and a soft nonwoven inner layer that protects finishes and wicks moisture away from the surface.