The Power of Adhesive Solutions: Enhancing Product Performance and Reliability

industrial tape manufacturer

In the realm of product design and manufacturing, there exists a crucial yet often overlooked hero: adhesive solutions. These seemingly humble substances play a pivotal role in enhancing the performance and reliability of countless products across industries. From aerospace to automotive, from electronics to healthcare, adhesives quietly but effectively bind components together, providing strength, stability, and longevity. Let’s explore the profound impact of adhesive solutions and understand how they contribute to the success and innovation of modern products.

The Evolution of Adhesive Technology

The history of adhesives dates back thousands of years, with evidence of their use in ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians and Greeks. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century that adhesive technology truly began to flourish, driven by advancements in chemistry, material science, and manufacturing processes.

Early adhesives were often crude mixtures of natural substances such as animal glues, plant resins, and beeswax. While these primitive adhesives served their purpose, they lacked the strength, durability, and versatility required for modern applications.

Today, adhesive technology has evolved to a remarkable degree, offering a vast array of formulations tailored to specific needs and requirements. Synthetic adhesives, such as epoxies, cyanoacrylates, and polyurethanes, dominate the market, providing superior bonding properties across a wide range of materials.

Enhancing Product Performance

One of the primary benefits of adhesive solutions is their ability to enhance product performance. By securely bonding components together, adhesives distribute stress and load more effectively, reducing the likelihood of mechanical failure or fatigue. This is particularly critical in high-stress environments such as aerospace, automotive, and construction, where even minor structural deficiencies can have catastrophic consequences.

Moreover, adhesives offer unique advantages over traditional joining methods such as welding, riveting, or mechanical fastening. Unlike these methods, which can weaken materials, create stress concentrations, or introduce thermal distortion, adhesives provide a uniform bond without altering the properties of the substrate. This not only preserves the integrity of the materials but also allows for the bonding of dissimilar materials, opening up new possibilities for lightweight and multi-material designs.

Enabling Adhesive Innovation

In addition to improving performance, adhesive solutions also drive innovation by enabling the design of more complex and efficient products. The ability to bond materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion, for example, allows engineers to create lightweight structures that can withstand extreme temperatures without warping or delaminating. This is particularly relevant in industries such as aerospace and electronics, where weight reduction and thermal management are critical concerns.

Furthermore, adhesives facilitate the miniaturization of electronic devices by providing reliable and compact bonding solutions. With the trend towards smaller, lighter, and more portable gadgets, adhesives play a vital role in assembling and packaging delicate electronic components, ensuring both functionality and durability.

Improving Reliability

Reliability is paramount in any product, particularly those used in safety-critical applications such as medical devices, automotive systems, and industrial machinery. Adhesive solutions play a key role in improving reliability by providing a consistent and predictable bond strength under a wide range of operating conditions.

Unlike mechanical fasteners, which can loosen over time due to vibration or thermal cycling, adhesives form a strong and durable bond that remains intact throughout the life of the product. This not only reduces the likelihood of premature failure but also minimizes maintenance requirements and downtime, resulting in lower overall costs and improved customer satisfaction.

Environmental Benefits

Beyond their technical advantages, adhesive solutions also offer environmental benefits compared to traditional joining methods. Welding, soldering, and mechanical fastening processes often require significant energy consumption and produce hazardous emissions and waste. In contrast, adhesive material manufacturing typically requires less energy to apply and generate minimal waste, making them a more sustainable choice for manufacturers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint.

Adhesives also enable the use of lightweight materials and modular construction techniques, which can lead to reductions in fuel consumption, emissions, and material usage over the lifetime of the product. This is particularly relevant in industries such as automotive and transportation, where fuel efficiency and environmental impact are of growing concern.

Adhesive solutions play a vital role in enhancing product performance and reliability across a wide range of industries. From aerospace to electronics, from automotive to healthcare, adhesives enable innovation, improve efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. As technology continues to advance, the demand for high-performance adhesive solutions will only continue to grow, driving further innovation and unlocking new possibilities for product design and manufacturing. So, the next time you marvel at a sleek smartphone, board a plane, or undergo a medical procedure, remember the unsung hero behind it all: adhesive solutions.

Get a Custom Solution Created for Your Business

At The Tape Lab, we’re not just creating adhesive solutions; we’re crafting partnerships to bring your custom innovations to life. Check out our personalized solutions or request a quote to get started.

Stick-To-Skin Adhesives – A Key Disruptor in Modern Healthcare

Transdermal patch on arm

Wearable stick-to-skin medical devices give doctors the freedom to become time and location-independent. Healthcare providers can effortlessly gather vital patient information and take appropriate action from virtually anywhere. Plus, the patient doesn’t have to spend hours on a long commute. CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) is a good example, which allows doctors to remotely monitor diabetics.

However, the core component that is crucial to the effectiveness of such devices is a stick-to-skin adhesive. It ensures that the device stays attached to the patient’s body for the desired period without disrupting their usual routine. Let’s take a closer look at stick-to-skin adhesives and the importance of a reliable conversion partner.

On The Cusp Of A Growth Boom

Wearable technology; a once farfetched idea, is becoming a norm in modern medicine. It would be fair to conclude that it is rewriting the way healthcare is delivered. We are used to receiving medical attention within a typical clinical establishment; however, most patients face a medical situation at home, on travel, or at work. A moment’s delay in such a state could be catastrophic.

This has given an exponential boost to the demand for wearable tech for remote patient monitoring. According to an industrial analysis Mordor Intelligence, the wearable adhesive market, which was valued at $294.21 million in 2020, is on its way to more than doubling to $617.43 million by 2026. From medical devices and patient monitors to wound closure and sports tapes, this presents a sizeable growth opportunity in every market segment.

Considerations For Designing A Winning Stick-To-Skin Product

While the patient benefits from the device itself, however, a reliable stick-to-skin adhesive is what enables the device to do its job. Let’s explore the factors that must be considered to ensure that the product meets the expected standards:

Material Considerations:
  1. Moisture Management: Stick-to-skin devices are designed to be compatible with the user’s daily lifestyle. That means it must stand up to sweat, bodily fluids, and external moisture. To counter this, adhesive materials employ the following two methods:
    1. Fluid absorption – The adhesive takes on the moisture and holds it away from the skin to prevent irritation.
    2. Moisture-vapor transmission – Tiny holes in the adhesive and carrier material allow moisture to evaporate.
    3. Getting the layer right: Designing an effective stick-to-skin product is a complicated endeavor. Several layers of materials must come together before a product starts to take shape. The designers and manufacturers must get this delicate balance just right for the product to function correctly. For example, if an adhesive used in the skin contact layer is breathable but the outer layer does not allow moisture-vapor transmission, the product won’t perform as intended.
  2. Regulatory Considerations: Bringing a medical-grade product to the market requires the manufactories to adhere to strict regulatory standards. Even a small oversight can cause significant losses – both monetary and in terms of time to the market. Here’s what to look out for.
    1. Relevant ISO Certification & Documentation: Your design, manufacturing, and supply partners must be ISO 13485 certified and compliant.
    2. Safety Tests: To ensure that the adhesives meet the required safety standards, your suppliers must be able to conduct tests such as primary skin irritation (PSI) testing, cytotoxicity screening, biocompatibility, and safety testing, and guinea pig sensitization
  3. The Right Converting Partners: Unquestionable credibility is the backbone of any enterprise that provides healthcare services and related products. This means your production and conversion partner must have extensive experience along with outstanding research and development capabilities. The Tape Lab checks all of these boxes. Let’s take a closer look:
    1. Unquestionable Credibility & Extensive Adhesive-Specific Experience: The Tape Lab brings to the table over 18 years of research & manufacturing experience in the stick-to-skin medical tech space. Some of the largest names in the industry such as Avery Dennison have entrusted us with developing adhesive solutions for their flagship continuous health monitor. We’re supremely confident we can meet and exceed your expectations as well.
    2. A Wide Range OF Stick-To-Skin Products: The Tape Lab currently offers 11 individual categories for stick-to-skin products and 6 categories for wearable medical products. Our range includes but is not limited to adhesive bras, boob tape, CBD adhesive patches, fashion tape, wearable device tape, and diagnostic tape. You can explore our full product range over here. No matter what you have in mind, you’ll find it under one roof with The Tape Lab.
    3. The Ability To Customize & Unrivaled Engineering Expertise: Do you have an idea for a unique stick-to-skin product? We can help you bring it to life. The Tape Lab excels in every facet of medical adhesive design and manufacturing. Our core competencies include designing the tapes, die-cutting the patches, layer lamination, customizing the liner releases, and full-service OEM assembly. This gives us the scale and production capacity that will empower you to bring your product to market quicker and cheaper than your competition.
    4. Strong Supplier Partnerships: What sets us apart is our rock solid supply chain. We enjoy strong relationships with leading material manufacturers in the medical adhesive space. Our partners include 3M, Avery Dennison, Berry Plastics, Adhesive Applications and Polymer Science. This ensures immediate material access and enables us to design and produce customized medical adhesive solutions far quicker and cheaper than most of our competitors.

Next Step – Book A Free Consultation

Looking for a full-service tape converter and adhesives specialist? Contact The Tape Lab today. Our experts will schedule an obligation-free call and explain how we can put our full suite of converting services to work for you.

Transdermal Topical Patches – Will They Redefine The Way Vitamins and Supplements are Delivered?

medical device adhesive

It certainly seems that way. It wasn’t long ago that transdermal patches were viewed as a novel way to cope with chronic smoking. However, as their acceptance increased over the years, they are now being utilized to deliver vitamins, supplements, as well as give consumers remedies for, pain relief, sleep, hangovers and recovery, relaxation- or any combination of all the above via a topical patch.

Let’s explore further and take a closer look at the considerations for manufacturing quality transdermal topical patches.

What Is A Transdermal Patch & Its Various Types

In essence, these are small stick-to-skin patches to administer carefully determined plant based botanicals and vitamin doses through the patient’s skin. Patients find them convenient, non-invasive, and pain-free. Moreover, the patches enable delivery in a controlled manner, therefore, eliminating sharp peaks and valleys in vitamin and supplement administration.

Transdermal topical patches usually have 5 core components i.e. backing, ingredients (vitamins and supplements), membrane, adhesive, and the liner. They can be broadly categorized into 5 groups:

The Importance Of Choosing The Right Adhesive Converter For Transdermal Patches

The adhesive plays a critical role in ensuring that the patch stays securely pasted to the user’s skin and delivers the vitamins and supplements as intended. Let’s take a closer look at the criteria the patch adhesive must meet:

  1. Seamless Skin Adherence & Removal: It should be strong enough that the patch stays put and securely adhereed to the user’s skin for the required period. However, the adhesive must be balanced enough that the user can easily remove it without any discomfort.
  2. No Residue: No one likes to scrape sticky residue off their skin. When the patch is removed, it must not leave any adhesive residue on the skin.
  3. Comfortable: The adhesive must not cause any irritation, rashes, or trigger sensitivity.
  4. Skin- Adhesive Compatibility: It should seamlessly blend the adhesive with the ingredients without causing any physical or chemical clashes.
  5. Permeation: It should not interfere with the way or the speed at which the vitamins or supplement is supposed to be transferred to the patient.

Why An Experienced Adhesive Converter Matters

Transdermal Topical patch manufacturing is a complicated process and an experienced converter can help you stay competitive by eliminating unnecessary costs and significantly shortening the time to market.

  1. End-To-End Patch Design & Development: A knowledgeable converter can help you with any phase of the design and manufacturing process. E.g. it can help you design the required delivery system patch. What you’ll get is a well-made transdermal topical patch perfectly sized and designed to function seamlessly with the intended area of the body.
  2. Selection Of The Correct Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive: A reliable adhesive converter will ensure that the patch stays pasted to the user for the intended period and can stand up to sweat, dirt, and daily activity without causing any discomfort or skin damage.
  3. Consistent Patch Quality: A seasoned convertor will ensure that patch is made to deliver a consistent dosage.
  4. Regulatory Compliance: You will never have to worry about any compliance issues if you work with a converter that is cGMP certified.
  5. Desired Patch Shape & Size: Transdermal Topical patches have various uses, which may require the patch to be of a certain shape or size. An experienced converter brings to the table with numerous die-cutting, slitting, and sheeting capabilities, therefore, giving you the freedom to design and manufacture the patch in any shape or size. Moreover, an expert converter will eliminate material waste and help further reduce your per unit cost.
  6. Continuous Access To Critical Patch Making Materials: Experienced convertors have ties to major suppliers and can help you source the premium materials to make quality patch products that stand out in the marketplace.

What Sets The Tape Lab apart

That is indeed a relevant question. Let’s see how The Tape Lab can help bring your transdermal topical patch products to the market quicker and cheaper.

  1. A Wide Range Of Transdermal Topical Patches: No matter what type of transdermal topical patch you have in mind, we can bring it to life. And we aren’t just limited to patches. The Tape Lab offers an extensive range of stick-to-skin products such as adhesive bras, boob tape, fashion tape, wearable device tape, and diagnostic tape. You can explore our full product range over here.
  2. Unquestionable Credibility & Extensive Adhesive-Specific Experience: The Tape Lab brings to the table over 18 years of research & manufacturing experience in the stick-to-skin medical tech space. Some of the largest names in the industry such as Avery Dennison have entrusted us with developing adhesive solutions for their products. We’re supremely confident we can meet and exceed your expectations as well.
  3. Strong Supplier Partnerships: What sets us apart is our rock solid supply chain. We enjoy strong relationships with leading material manufacturers in the medical adhesive space. Our partners include 3M, Avery Dennison, Berry Plastics, Adhesive Applications and Polymer Science. This ensures immediate material access and enables us to design and produce customized adhesive solutions a lot quicker and cheaper than most of our competitors.

Next Step – Book A Free Consultation

Looking for a full-service tape converter and adhesives specialist? Contact The Tape Lab today. Our experts will schedule an obligation-free call and explain how we can put our full suite of converting services to work for you.

How Innovative Adhesive Solutions Are Transforming Continuous Health Monitoring & Wearable Medical Tech

Medical Wearables

We may not realize it, but the use of continuous health monitors is quite common – especially within the Global healthcare systems. As of 2020, over 23 million patients in the US alone utilized some form of continuous and remote health monitoring and this number is expected to hit 30 million by the year 2024.

Let’s dig a bit deeper and see how far the modern continuous monitoring tech has come and its impact on how we approach medical care. We will also shed light on how material converting and production partners are helping to bring continuous enhancements within the wearable med tech space.

What Exactly Is A Continuous Health Monitors (CHM)?

As the name implies, it is a medical device that monitors a patient continuously. The goal is to gather data on the patient’s primary health indicators and relay the information to concerned medical caregivers. In most cases, these are wearable devices that the patient can stick onto their body while carrying out their usual daily activities including working out or taking a shower.

Why It Matters?

While the technology may still be young; we’re already seeing its tremendous potential in simplifying healthcare. For starters, it can significantly reduce the time patients spend commuting to their doctor’s office or the hospital and then waiting there for the physician.

During a 2015 study, Harvard Medical School discovered patients on average spend 2 hours on a hospital visit. Continuous health monitors can minimize or almost eliminate these visits in many instances. For example, someone with a chronic heart issue can leverage it to share their data on vital health indicators and get instant feedback from their consultant rather than making the long commute.

Not only is it convenient but such devices may also help manage medical emergencies much better. The constant flow of primary health data enables doctors to take immediate action. Moreover, by minimizing patient visits, these gadgets can significantly improve the efficiency of medical facilities by reducing patient pressure.

The Role of Reliable Adhesive Solutions in Quality Wearable Devices to the Market

Depending on the patients’ needs, they may choose to wear such a device for up to 3 weeks. This means the device must be able to withstand the rigors of daily life without fail. A reliable adhesive solution ensures that the device stays securely attached to the patient’s body for the intended period. Let’s take a closer look at how advanced medical adhesive solutions add to the utility of these devices:

  • Makes It Suitable For An Active Lifestyle: Just because a patient needs to be continuously monitored shouldn’t mean that they cannot commit to normal daily activities such as school, runs, working out or a hike on the weekend. This, however, means that the device must deal with sweat, moisture, and an occasional bump. A reliable adhesive ensures that the device stays put and performs well under normal push and pull of the human body.
  • Ergonomics & Comfort: Let’s be honest. The idea of something continuously sticking to your body is not very appealing. That said, certain health conditions such as diabetes may require patients to wear glucose monitoring devices for weeks. A well-designed adhesive system guarantees that the patient can wear the device comfortably for extended periods without the risk of skin rashes or irritation.

The Importance Of A Reliable Converting & Production Partner

Unquestionable credibility is the backbone of any enterprise that provides healthcare services and related products. This means your production and converting partner must have extensive experience along with outstanding research and development capabilities.

The Tape Lab checks all of these boxes. Let’s take a closer look:

  • Trusted By Global Wearable Medical Tech Brands: The Tape Lab brings to the table over 18 years of research & manufacturing experience in the stick-to-skin medical tech space. Some of the largest names in the industry have entrusted us with developing adhesive solutions for their flagship continuous health monitor. We’re supremely confident we can meet and exceed your expectations as well.
  • Strong Supplier Partnerships: What sets us apart is our rock solid supply chain. We enjoy strong relationships with leading material manufacturers in the medical adhesive space. Our partners include 3M, Avery Dennison, Berry Global, and Dermamed. This ensures immediate material access and enables us to design and produce customized medical adhesive solutions far quicker and cheaper than most of our competitors.
  • Unrivaled Adhesive Engineering & Production Expertise: The Tape Lab excels in every facet of medical adhesive design and manufacturing. Our core competencies include designing the tapes, die-cutting the patches, layer lamination, customizing the liner releases, and full-service OEM packaging. We’re equally proficient in the design, manufacturing, and packaging of stick-to-skin wearables. Moreover, each tape component is manufactured in our ISO-8 certified clean rooms.

Next Step – Book A Free Consultation

Looking for a full-service tape converter and adhesives specialist? Contact The Tape Lab today. Our experts will schedule an obligation-free call and explain how we can put our full suite of converting services to work for you.

References

  1. https://blog.prevounce.com/27-remote-patient-monitoring-statistics-every-practice-should-know#:~:text=Consumer%2FPatient%20Statistics&text=A%20survey%20conducted%20by%20Insider,services%20and%20tools%20in%202020
  2. https://aabme.asme.org/posts/innovations-in-continuous-health-monitoring

Commonly used adhesive tapes for medical device manufacturing

medical device adhesive

Engineers know that bringing a new medical device to market is incredibly complex. Product performance, user comfort and regulatory concerns all need to be accounted for during product development. The adhesive solution you use will also impact all of these areas. So, you’ll need to consult with adhesives experts and choose carefully. To arm you with the information you need to speed up the development process, let’s explore some of the most common adhesive tapes used for medical device manufacturing.

Solvent-based adhesive tapes

Solvent-based adhesives are created using a combination of a solvent and a polymer like acrylic or silicone. When paired with a substrate to form a solvent-based adhesive tape, these solutions can feature a range of bonding times to meet your specific application or manufacturing needs. Solvent-based tapes are also generally more resistant to heat and chemicals than water-based adhesive solutions.

Solvent-based adhesives typically contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are regulated to various degrees by governments across the globe. This may mean you have less flexibility from a compliance standpoint if you choose to work with these types of adhesives. You will also have to consider the business case and which markets you plan to sell into during the product development process.

Some other features of solvent-based tapes include:

  • Typically cost more to produce than water-based adhesive tapes
  • Good at bonding to substrates that are contaminated with oil
  • The best property retention of all PSAs in most conditions
  • Gains bond strength when adhesive is fully cured (usually 72 hours after applying)

UV-cured tapes

As their name implies, UV-cured tapes use pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) that have been cured under UV light to alter their properties. Engineers often choose these tapes for applications where high-temperature stability and solvent resistance is needed. These qualities make UV-cured tapes well-suited for stick-to-skin applications like transdermal patches where moisture from sweat or other bodily fluids may come into contact with the device.

There are different grades of UV-cured tape, and medical grade UV-cured tape is available that complies with Biocompatibility 10993 and other regulations. Some manufacturers choose to work with UV-cured tapes because they generally emit fewer VOCs, which makes it easier to meet regulatory guidelines and get products into market faster.

Some other features of UV-cured tapes include:

  • UV curing at low temperatures is less harmful to heat-sensitive substrate materials
  • Very resistant to solvents, moisture and high temperatures
  • Reduced emissions of VOCs for an easier regulatory approval process

Water-based or emulsion-based adhesive tapes

Water-based adhesive tapes, sometimes referred to as emulsion-based tapes, are similar to solvent-based tapes, but use water to dissolve adhesive polymers instead of another solution. This can make them more economical while also avoiding some of the highly regulated chemicals that are associated with solvent-based adhesives. Because the adhesive polymers used in these types of tape are soluble in water, any medical device constructed using water-based tape will not provide good moisture resistance.

Water-based adhesives bond when the water in the formulation evaporates, leaving only the substrates bonded together. This is why they are often used with porous substrates and are typically better for short-term uses like hydrocolloids and ECG applications. Tapes made with acrylic or rubber-based emulsions will offer better balance between peel, shear and tack.

Some other features of water-based tapes include:

  • Generally less expensive to produce than solvent-based tapes
  • Less resistant to moisture
  • More environmentally friendly

Choosing the right tape for your application

Adhesive selection is a critical part of medical device development because of the impact it can have on both the performance and manufacturing of your device. Consider working with an adhesives expert that can offer detailed insights on your various tape options. A tape converting partner like The Tape Lab can help speed the product development process and ensure the adhesives you select are on spec and ideally suited for your unique application.

Looking for assistance designing or developing your next medical device? Contact The Tape Lab to see how our tape converting services can help you create the ideal product for your application.

How to design adhesive solutions to beat supply chain woes

Supply chain image

Problems in the global supply chain have made it difficult for many manufacturers to get the adhesive materials and components they need. This has led to delays in production and product rollouts for some, and experts predict these problems will continue for the foreseeable future. So, manufacturers need to find ways to overcome these types of challenges. While you can’t control the supply chain, you can design products and organize your production processes and partnerships to avoid the worst impacts of supply chain disruption. Here are a few things to consider that can help future-proof your operation.

Designing for flexibility

The design and materials used to create your products will ultimately dictate how vulnerable you are to supply chain disruption. The more difficult the materials are to source, the harder it may be to maintain production timelines. However, during the current market disruption, commodity materials have been particularly difficult to come by. So, it’s not about choosing one type of material over another.

In the end, best practice is to design products with material flexibility, so you have redundancy in your material choices. At The Tape Lab, we always design adhesive solutions with tolerance in mind so that we can substitute materials if there are issues in the supply chain. If you can anticipate supply chain problems early on and make materials flexibility a tenet of your product development methodology, you will be better positioned to withstand widespread disruption.

The power of a one-stop shop

Limiting the number of partners involved in designing and producing your products can also help mitigate supply chain woes. By working with a single or limited set of partners, you create fewer links in your own production chain and limit opportunities for friction. Fewer handoffs of products and materials will also limit the cost and impact of transportation and logistics.

Consider a tape converter like The Tape Lab that offers a wide range of services to create a one-stop shop for adhesive-converting needs. We can formulate solutions, test and validate materials selections, convert adhesive materials and even package your products all under one roof. This helps our partners reach project milestones faster and simplifies the entire production process. To beat supply chain problems, consider working with partners that can offer the comprehensive services needed to streamline product development and commercial production.

Evaluating your partners’ partners

Speaking of partnerships, you should also consider who your partners work with, particularly when it comes to sourcing materials. Manufacturers need a converting partner that can source materials from a variety of suppliers while leaning on partnerships with trusted, reliable brands. This will give your operation greater flexibility when disruption hits.

For example, The Tape Lab works with Preferred 3M Converters, leveraging a deep relationship with one of the industry’s leading suppliers to source premium materials for our partners. But we also work with smaller tape, film and foam OEMs to give us added flexibility so we can mitigate supply issues. This combination of suppliers allows us to reliably source the materials our partners need and find alternative solutions should problems arise. In evaluating your current partnerships, make sure any third party you rely on to source raw materials has a deep bench of suppliers so you can avoid issues and keep production on schedule.

Building for the future

If the experts are correct, the global supply chain may not be back to “normal” for several years. Therefore, manufacturers need to think about disruption not in terms of solving an acute, short-term problem, but how you can build your organization to withstand this kind of volatility. Flexible design, materials selection and strong manufacturing partnerships can help alleviate many of the worst impacts of supply chain disruption. By prioritizing flexibility and redundancy during design and production, and by working with partners that offer a complete suite of services, you can create a manufacturing operation capable of outlasting any storm.

Need assistance on a project? Contact The Tape Lab and see how our tape converting solutions can help streamline product development and production for your organization.

Frequently Asked Questions About Tape and Adhesives

Close-up of a machine with a red belt.

Tape is a product that just about everyone is familiar with, from small children doing arts and crafts to adults who use it at work or in countless applications at home. But as a material to be incorporated in product development, not every engineer is so well versed in tape’s unique characteristics and capabilities. At The Tape Lab, we get a lot of questions about tape products and pressure-sensitive adhesives in general, and we’re happy to help guide our customers and partners in the right direction. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about pressure sensitive tapes.

What are ideal storage conditions and how long can tape be stored?

The shelf life of pressure sensitive tape depends on the specific tape in question. But a general rule of thumb is that you can store tape for up to one year without compromising performance, as long as it is stored under the proper conditions. Those conditions are generally between 60- and 75-degrees Fahrenheit with relative humidity.

What do I need to do to prepare surfaces for tape application?

Pressure-sensitive adhesives used in most tape products form a chemical bond with the surface to which they are applied. This is what gives them the holding strength that makes them useful. However, this also means that any contaminants on the surface of the application can compromise that bond because the tape is sticking to those particles, and not the intended surface. For this reason, application sites should generally be dry and free of any substances like grease or oil. If you have a tape need for surfaces that may inherently contain these kinds of contaminants — such as medical tapes where moisture is a primary concern — talk to an experienced converting partner about your options.

Are there minimum widths for slitting tape?

Yes, there are minimums, but the exact specification depends on the equipment used to cut the tape and the material being cut. For example, some converters can cut a standard transfer tape down to around ¼”, but the minimum for reinforced transfer tape may be as high as 6”. This is why it’s important to vet any prospective converting partner carefully to make sure they have the experience and capabilities you need for your application.

 

Why are application temperature and service temperature important?

Application temperature refers to the temperature of the environment at the time the tape is bonded to the application surface. Different adhesives used in common tape products have different viscoelastic properties at various temperatures that can affect the strength of the bond. So, if your manufacturing plant is too hot or too cold, the tape may not bond properly.

Service temperature refers to the environment the product will experience after the tape has bonded to the application and is being used. This can also impact performance. So, if the finished product is used in too hot or too cold of an environment, the tape could fail. Taking these kinds of environmental factors into account will be critical when choosing materials during product development.

What are my options for tape backing materials?

Tape backing is the material that holds the adhesive in place so it can be used in various application. Options for backing materials include paper, cloth, film, foam  and others. In double-sided tape, you can think of tape backing as the material between the two layers of adhesive.

Tape backing is different from a release liner that simply provides a means to transport adhesive material until it is applied. Adhesive transfer tapes, for example, do not feature tape backing. An experienced converter can help you choose the right type of backing and release liner for your specific application.

Do liners on a tape matter?

The quick answer is yes. Liners don’t just protect the tape. The liner has different release values in many cases and it plays an integral role in how the tape is applied in applications as well as how it is laminated to other flexible materials. An experienced converter knows how to mix and match liners on tapes to ensure they function well in any engineered application.

Have other questions about tape cutting, converting or tape materials in general? Contact The Tape Lab and we’d be happy to answer any questions and help bring your products from idea to commercial production.