CONVERTING NEWS
AND INSIGHTS

When you think of healthcare supplies, what comes to mind first? A stethoscope to hear a heartbeat. A syringe to give a needed shot. Ahhhhhh, the “open wide” tongue depressor!

But what about medical adhesive tape? It may not pop to mind first, but this versatile tool is incredibly important in the medical field. There are many varieties from which to choose and many companies that convert medical adhesive tape for wound care.

This article answers some common (and not so common) questions:
• What’s the best tape to use on skin?
• What is medical tape used for?
• What types of medical tape are there?
• How does a converter make a difference in medical adhesive tape?

Grab an otoscope (that device that checks your ears). Let's get into this!

If you're in the electrical trade, you've probably used Polyimide tape before. You might know it under a different name, though: Kapton tape.

Polyimide tape, or Kapton tape, has a ton of benefits when it comes to the electrical side of any given industry. If you want to know more about polyimide tape, keep reading. You'll be a certified polyimide master by the end.

Doctor Horace Day is credited with the invention of the first tape in 1845. As a doctor using this invention in medicine it was called surgical tape. Dr. Day used a rubberized material applied to strips of fabric and the surgical tape was born. 

Welcome to the conclusion of our 3-part series on pressure sensitive adhesive tape. In Part 1, we discussed PSA’s performance and versatility, and Part 2 covered 3M™ VHB™ tape as a superior bonding solution.

Today, our topic is not PSA tape itself, but rather the importance of the adhesive converter that takes raw material and transforms it into a usable, valuable product. We’ve broken our exploration into four segments, each critically important to successful use of pressure sensitive adhesive tape.

Do more with less.

If you’re a manufacturer, you know this has been the expectation for years.

Manufacturers have experienced many pressures that affect their operations and bottom line. One way to adapt is to optimize inventory; truly understanding inventory levels and discovering efficiency opportunities through use of automated component tracking systems that enable end-to-end traceability of individual components.

This level of tracking can improve assembly line performance, help identify defects in products during manufacturing, improve overall quality, increase production yields, and more. However, in order to track components, labels need to be readable by automated tracking machines. That’s when PCB labels become so vital.

Microfluidics’ ability to perform chemical analyses of small volumes of fluids have reduced hospital visits and overall healthcare expenditures. And, their use is rising rapidly.

Some complex products require specific manufacturing processes to ensure their safety and reliable performance. What kind of performance? Well, in medical applications, particles in the air as well as the air’s moisture level can lead to bacteria growth that alters adhesion in a medical product applied directly to the skin.

Obviously, “bacteria” and “medical product” never go hand-in-hand. Combatting this possibility (and many others within numerous industries) requires the use of a cleanroom. Impurities of many types — dust/smoke, equipment, microorganisms, inadequate air quality, human error, and others — can cause defects in many products.

How “clean” does a cleanroom need to be? Classifications have been established using the ISO classification system ISO 14644-1 and are rated by the cleanliness level of the air inside the room. The most common ISO classes (ISO 7 and ISO 8) indicate the level of cleanliness of the room based on the quantity and size of particles per volume of air.

In this article, we’ll explore the ins and outs of ISO cleanroom certification, the industries most affected by cleanrooms, and the importance of your converting partner being certified.

A converted product’s carrier or backing material is one of the most important decisions when designing pressure sensitive adhesives. The carrier has to possess the right qualities to match the application (will it be hand applied or automatically dispensed?) and the processing (will it be slit or die-cut?).

Recently, we explored the basics of release liners in this article. In today’s blog post, we’ll dive into the physical components of backing (or “carrier;” we’ll use both terms throughout) and how it helps the converting process.

NOTE: This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tape. Read Part 1 — which features PSA’s performance and versatility — in the Strouse blog. Check back next month for the third and final article in the series.

When it comes to bonding applications, there’s no shortage of options: screws, bolts, mechanical fasteners, rivets, welding, liquid adhesives, and more. We recently covered the history of bonding options; what adhesive bonding is and how it’s changed over time. Read that here.

Strict deadlines. Tight budgets. Performance demands. The pressure is on design engineers who face numerous challenges and decisions during every step of a project. One tough decision is selecting a bonding application solution.

Adhesive bonding is the process of bringing two or more surfaces together using a viscous substance. To select the right one, modern manufacturers need to consider the adhesive performance of each substance as well as any assembly advantages a solution may possess.

The beginning of a custom die cut converting project usually goes something like this:

Customer: “Here’s the idea. Can you make this?”

Converter Salesperson: “Yes, we can.”

Customer: “Can you make 1,000,000 of them?”

Converter Salesperson: “Of course.”

Now, it gets interesting. It’s at this point that the converter should start asking the questions, and lots of them. The engineering-focused information gathering begins here, followed by project-specific questions to ensure quality and timing expectations can be met.