CONVERTING NEWS
AND INSIGHTS

Pressure sensitive adhesive tape has become the preferred solution for many adhesive needs. Its flexibility, strength, design, and versatility provide many assembly advantages. It’s so impressive, we recently ran this 3-part blog series.

As we explored in the first article in that series, engineers have used many solutions — each with their own limitations — to bond materials. The right pressure sensitive adhesive tape can replace these inefficient options and add additional benefits: evenly distributing pressure, converting to custom sizes/shapes, adding design aesthetics, and more.

Permanent bonding projects take on various formats and requirements. The one thing true in all cases is the need for putting two items together so they don’t come apart. Regardless of how well the surfaces match or mismatch, they must be bonded to hold for the long term.

Thin bonding is a huge category of adhesives with many applications, so we’re continuing our efforts to share what we know in our ongoing series. You’re invited to check out an overview of thin bonding and details about double sided tape.

The world of adhesive materials within flexible material converting continues to expand and change. As technology overall evolves, so does the ability of adhesives to bond two or more substrates together.

Before we dive into the many uses of this exceptional substance, let’s start with the basics: “What is hydrogel?” Hydrogel is a 3D network of hydrophilic polymer material that quickly absorbs and retains a large amount of water (or other fluid). Incredibly versatile and environmentally sensitive, hydrogels are multi-functional across a variety of industries.

Whether they are open or closed, shallow or deep, the healing process from wounds can be long and painful. 

Protective film is a material that protects surfaces that are susceptible to damage: minor or moderate abrasions to scratches and more. One example is a vehicle. Protective film helps protect a car from daily wear and tear that comes with regular usage and other more uncommon damage.

The world of adhesive technology is an exciting place these days! Adhesive manufacturers are pushing the limits of science and technology, and the industry is enjoying:
• Product advancements and innovations
• New, sophisticated converting equipment
• Improved production rates, reduced labor costs, minimized waste, less rework

Unsolvable application challenges are now being solved as manufacturers look to use new materials in their processes and products. Yet, technological advancements on their own aren’t worth much. They require industry knowledge and insights from an expert adhesive converter to capitalize on advances in technology.

NOTE: This article, #2 in an ongoing blog series on thin bonding, focuses on double sided tape. To read the series kickoff, an overview on thin bonding, click here.

Of the two main thin bonding types — double sided tape and adhesive transfer tape — double sided tape is the most converter-friendly, allowing for many manufacturing processes with few limitations. Having a carrier provides stability that makes the tape easier to handle and convert into small shapes and parts.

There’s often a fine line between health and illness. Microfluidic devices detect important samples of fluids that provide crucial information to patients and their caregivers.

However, microfluidics requires the right materials to ensure accuracy as these critical tools are designed, manufactured, and assembled. Usually small with intricate channels and circuits, microfluidic devices require the exact right material properties.

Welcome to our ongoing blog series featuring the many advantages of thin bonding. If you’re looking for specific information on double sided tape, click here.

Why dedicate so much attention and digital space to thin bonding? Because it’s a virtually invisible, super-strong bond for nearly any material in almost every industry. And that just begins to tell the story of thin bonding. There are so many benefits; we need an ongoing series to share them all.

Towering redwoods. Majestic mountain peaks. Complex cloud formations. As we take moments to appreciate nature’s large displays of beauty, many of us rarely recognize small engineering feats that allow us to live comfortable lives.

The study of microfluidics contributes significantly to many fields that affect our daily lives. For instance, microfluidic devices carry tiny amounts of fluid that give caregivers and patients accurate test results, from monitoring blood glucose to detecting pathogens.

If you don’t already know about microfluidics, this article is an excellent look at the power of such tiny wonders. We’ll explore the basics of microfluidics, what microfluidic devices are used for, and how to make a microfluidic chip. Ready?

These days, more and more industries are making use of low surface energy plastics in their production. These are materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene that are becoming more common. The trouble with LSEs such as these is that traditional bonding materials refuse to stick to them. 

Automation isn’t the future. It’s here today, and without using it wisely, most companies are at a competitive disadvantage. Yet, automation isn’t an “all or nothing” decision. There are levels of automation, especially in converting, that make it easier to start working smarter and more efficiently.

This article explores various automation levels and uses examples to magnify the importance of automation within everyday converting projects.

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. Also, check out Part 3 in the series on choosing a converter.

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.