Adhesive Tape Descriptions

1. Double sided tapes: For permanent or temporary bonding, tesa offers double sided (double coated) tapes with filmic (PET, PP and PVC), PE foam, cloth, non-woven or paper carriers with acrylic or rubber adhesives as well as acrylic transfer tapes which have no carrier. They are available in rolls and often in spool or bobbin format in roll lengths up to 5,000m. Tapes with fingerlifts are also available. Double sided tapes with acrylic adhesives offer resistance to chemicals, temperature, plasticisers and ageing and are suitable for outdoor applications. Double sided tapes with rubber or synthetic rubber adhesives offer a secure bond to a variety of substrates but are suited to indoor applications only. Filmic tapes are ideal for bonding to smooth surfaces such as glass and metal, foam tapes compensate for irregular and rough surfaces, cloth tapes are ideal for carpet laying and non-woven (tissue) and paper tapes are hand-tearable.

2. Flexographic and printing tapes: tesa offers a full range of double sided tapes for mounting stereo or printing plates onto steel cylinders or composite sleeves. tesa’s Softprint® range of double sided foam tapes is available in different thicknesses and densities to meet the requirements of the specific technique. For example, hard printing plates for high quality printing require low density (soft) foams, whereas higher density foam or filmic tapes are suited to printing solid colours and combination printing. tesa tapes are used in the printing of films for flexible packaging, as well as corrugator pre and post print and label printing. Additionally tesa offers lithographic tapes.

3. Splicing Tapes: Single or double sided splicing tapes are available from tesa depending on the industry and application for static or flying splices. For splicing of paper and fluting in corrugated board production double sided tapes are available which are resistant to high temperatures and feature very high initial tack and shear resistance. For splicing rolls in paper production either double or single sided repulpable tapes are available depending on the type of splice required. tesa’s EasySplice® range of double sided splicing tapes is used for straight-line splicing in the paper and newsprint industries.

4. Masking Tapes: tesa offers masking tapes for many applications, from general purpose to low bake tapes for automotive refinishing and applications at automotive OEMs through to high temperature tapes used in printed circuit board manufacture (for example for hot air levelling) and powder coating which have polyester (PET) or polyimide (Kapton®) carriers and silicon adhesives, as well as for the aerospace industry. Masking tapes are available for picture framing applications and additionally flat-back masking tapes are available for stencilling and sandblasting applications as well as fine-line tapes for multi-colour spray painting.

5. Cloth Tapes: tesa cloth tapes have been developed to meet a wide range of requirements. tesa duct tapes have a laminated polyethylene film coating and thick, tacky rubber adhesive and have very good adhesion onto rough surfaces. tesa mid-grade cloth tapes have a coextruded polyethylene film coating and this range includes tapes with properties such as UV resistance, non-reflective matt surface and camouflage colours. High grade cloth tapes consist of a very high mesh count for high tensile strength and acrylic paste coating to give superior weathering and UV resistance. Included in the high grade tapes are uncoated cloth tapes for internal applications such as harnessing as well as automotive cable harnessing tapes for the passenger compartment. Most tesa cloth tapes are available in a wide range of colours.

6. Safety Tapes: tesa’s range of safety tapes consists of PVC permanent lane and floor marking tapes, marking tapes and temporary warning tapes in red/white and yellow/black. Lane marking tapes are additionally available in selected plain colours such as yellow, red, black, green and white. Anti-slip tapes are available in black, yellow/black, clear and luminous yellow.

7. Packaging Tapes: tesa packaging and carton sealing tapes are based on a PP (polypropylene), PVC or paper backing with a synthetic rubber (hotmelt), solvent rubber or water based acrylic (WBA) adhesive. These are suitable for all types of packaging and feature properties such as low-noise or silent unwind, high tack adhesive and high shear properties for heavy duty packaging. These tapes can be printed and are also available in white as well as buff and clear. Additionally tesa has a range of tamper evident packaging tapes which can be individually printed with specific messages. All tesa packaging tapes and carton sealing tapes are available in hand roll lengths as well as machine roll length.

8. Strapping Tapes: tesa has a range of strapping tapes based on a standard TPP (tensilised polypropylene) backing or one reinforced with glass fibre filaments to create monofilament or cross weave tapes which offer significantly improved tensile strength and nick resistant properties. Included are tapes with high UV resistance which make them ideal for outdoor applications and residue-free removability lending them to temporary holding and protection of e.g. glass shelves in refrigerators during transportation.

9. PVC Insulating Tapes: tesa’s PVC assortment consists of 3 distinct grades ranging from a basic PVC tape in various colours suitable for identification, colour coding and marking to tapes with electrical insulation certifications. These approvals are US 302, VDE, IEC, SEMKO and IEC. The colours in tesa’s assortment are based on the European harmonisation document HD 308 S2. Additionally a non-adhesive tape is also avilable.

10. Aluminium foil tapes: tesa’s aluminium foil tapes come in three different thicknesses of aluminium foil backing with the same acrylic adhesive with the principal application being duct sealing. A UL 302 approved product is also available.

11. All weather tape: tesa’s PE all weather tape is suitable for outdoor applications such as film splicing in construction and repairing. It is UV stable, weather and waterproof resistant as well as to solvents.

12. tesa general: tesa manufactures over 800 different types of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes and is a leading global supplier to many industries. tesa’s range includes double sided tapes and single sided tapes using either filmic (including metallised), cloth, non-woven (tissue) and foam carriers combined with either acrylic, rubber, synthetic rubber and silicon adhesives.

13. Die cut and converted tapes: For many applications tape can be converted into a format more compatible with the component part(s) to which it is being applied e.g. in a die-cut ring both the centre and surround material can be removed leaving only the required shape. Both single and double sided tapes can be die-cut.

14. Protection tapes: Temporary protection tapes are available from tesa based on filmic carriers and low tack adhesives to prevent damage to the surface on removal.

15. Dispensers: When applying tapes reliably and efficiently tesa recognises that sometimes a little extra help is needed and tesa’s dispenser assortment covers most application requirements. For ease of use tesa has grouped together the different types of dispensers to make it easier to identify the most appropriate one for the specific task. These are hand dispensers, bench dispensers (which includes bag sealing), semi and fully automatic dispensers, double sided tape dispensers and floor marking dispensers.