Double-sided tape is used in various industries, but the results may not always be satisfactory depending on the application. Why is there such a significant difference in performance among different types of double-sided tape?
The main reason is the difference in the adhesives used. Common adhesives include oil-based and water-based adhesives, and hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesives. How can we differentiate between these types of double-sided tape? Let's briefly introduce their characteristics:
Water-based double-sided tape uses water as a solvent to emulsify acrylic or polyurethane resins using specialized emulsification equipment. Its biggest advantages are: a wide variety of types, environmental friendliness, and low cost. Many coatings now use water-soluble adhesives, such as general water-soluble PA, water-soluble PU, and functional pastes like film adhesives, oil-feel and wax-feel pastes, and color-scraping pastes. Water-soluble adhesives, with their functionality, environmental friendliness, and low cost, will be the future direction of coatings. Disadvantages include poor film formation, poor wash fastness, and PU cannot be applied with hot-air adhesives, and is not suitable for bonding foamed products such as sponges and foams;
Oil-based double-sided tape uses oil-based solvents (toluene, DMF, methyl ethyl ketone, etc.) to dissolve acrylic or polyurethane. Its advantages are good film formation and good fastness. PU can be applied with hot-air adhesives, and it is currently a widely used coating adhesive. The disadvantage is that due to the use of oil-based solvents, it is less environmentally friendly, especially with the current rise in oil prices, leading to a sharp increase in the price of oil-based solvents. Most coating adhesives use relatively inferior oil-based solvents due to high costs, resulting in failure to meet environmental standards. Furthermore, with the further improvement of environmental standards in various countries, the environmental requirements for coating adhesives are becoming increasingly stringent.
Hot-melt pressure-sensitive double-sided tape is a type of pressure-sensitive adhesive, mainly made by mixing synthetic rubber, resin, and rubber oil, heating them to a molten state, and then coating them onto substrates such as tissue paper, cloth, or plastic film. Its biggest advantage is its low cost, but its drawback is that its viscosity is significantly affected by temperature. It is mainly used for sealing various boxes and cartons, paper packaging, beverage bottle labels, sealing aluminum foil, flexible packaging and other packaging applications; and for environmentally friendly paper pallets, etc., suitable for various materials.
Therefore, when purchasing double-sided tape, we should not only consider the price, but also understand our specific application environment and choose the type of double-sided tape that is suitable for our company's needs.
