Product Guide

Adhesive Tapes Terms

• Adhesive Cohesion: The internal strength of the adhesive itself. How well the adhesive holds to resist shear stress and prevent splitting or tearing.
• Carrier: The backing that the adhesive is applied to. The material used will depend on the application and will vary from PP, PE, PVC, paper, cloth, etc.
• Coat Weight: The amount of adhesive coating applied to a backing and represented as grams per meter square (g/m²).
• Cold Flow: The tendency of the adhesive to behave like a viscous liquid over time. This can lead to oozing, potentially affecting adhesion and product quality problems.
• Dielectric Strength: The measure of the maximum voltage stress that a single layer of tape can withstand before dielectric failure occurs.
• Dimensional Stability: A tape’s ability to maintain its original shape and size, when applied to external influences like temperature, pressure, and moisture.
• Elongation: A tape’s ability to stretch before breaking, expressed as a percentage of the original length.
• Face Stock: Any material suitable for converting into a pressure sensitive adhesive. This can be paper, film, fabric, foil, laminate, etc.
• Fire Resistance: The ability of a tape to withstand exposure to flame. Fireproof materials will not burn even when exposed to flame. Flame-resistant (fire-retardant, self-extinguishing) materials will burn when exposed to flame, but will not sustain the burn after the flame is removed.
• Holding Power (Shear Resistance): A tape’s ability to hold a static weight vertically before falling.
• Impact Resistance: The tape’s ability to withstand or absorb shocks and vibrations.
• Insulation Resistance: The ability of the tape to prevent the flow of electrical current across its surface.
• Lap Joint: A common method used by lapping one material over another and using adhesive tape to provide the bond between them.
• Longitudinal: Refers to the direction in the tape’s length. Often used to describe reinforcement or other properties.
• Peel Adhesion: The force per unit width that is required to break the bond between the adhesive tape and the surface of which it has been applied.
• Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA): An adhesive type that sticks when pressure is applied to achieve bond.
• Saturation: The process of impregnating the tape backing with materials to improve its durability and physical characteristics, such as resistance to moisture, solvents or chemicals.
• Shear Adhesion: The ability of a tape to resist static forces when applied parallel to the bonding surface.
• Surface Energy: A measure of how well an adhesive can adhere to a substrate. Surfaces with a high surface energy are easier to adhere to, while low surface energy substrates will require additional preparation to help achieve an affective bond.
• Transversal: Refers to the direction across the width of the tape. Often used to describe reinforcement or tear properties.
• Tack: The property of a pressure sensitive adhesive that allows it to adhere to a surface under very little pressure. Determined by the ability of the adhesive to wet quickly to the surface it contacts.
• Tear Resistance: A tape’s ability to resist tearing in any given direction after the tear has been initiated.
• Tensile Strength (Breaking Strength): The force required to break the tape by controlled pulling on either side. Measured in N/mm.
• Unwind Adhesion: Refers to the force required to remove tape from a roll under prescribed conditions. Important for reliable and smooth operation, specifically for machine operation or for when wide rolls are being dispensed by hand.