The advancement in adhesive technology has made it easy, convenient, and affordable to join objects together. Adhesive tapes are a good alternative to mechanical fasteners and screws. The adhesive tapes are made up of various materials, i.e., rubber, acrylic, epoxy, silicone, etc. Self-adhesive rubber tape is one of the most popular and cost-effective types of adhesive tape that can join low-stress applications. Note, it is not advisable to use this tape for high heat applications as it causes the tape to stretch which can hamper the effectiveness of the adhesive. Similarly, low temperatures can wet the surface of the tape, thus affect its sticking ability. The grade of self-adhesive rubber plays a crucial role in the sticking ability of the tape. There are rubber tapes that can even withstand seawater and chemicals. Such tapes can bond materials such as metals, wires, hoses, etc., efficiently. Moreover, it does not require heat activation or any solvent to stick such materials.
The rubber-based adhesive is made up of various compounds like butyl, nitrile, butadiene-styrene, and others.
Benefits Of Self Adhesive Rubber Tapes
- One of the best advantages of such tapes is that they are thin, light in weight, and easy to apply. All you have to do is remove the release liner and apply it to the object using your two fingers.
- Such tapes can also join or bond different materials irrespective of their compatibility.
- They can be used for various purposes for winding wires, pipelines and hoses, cables, motor coil insulation, and others.
- Because of their robustness, they are also widely used in challenging sectors like spacecraft, underwater and radiation environment, and others.
- The easy application reduces the assembly time compared to other bonding options like welding, using fasteners, screws, etc. It also protects the surface of the object as you no longer have to weld the surface.
- They also alleviate the looks of the object’s surface as you are not using visible mechanical fasteners.
- The self-adhesive rubber tapes can also be used as an environmental barrier. Besides this, it also helps to reduce vibration and noise.
Quality Control To Check The Effectiveness Of Adhesive Tapes
The tackiness of the self-adhesive rubber tapes is checked via two quality control methods, i.e., rolling ball test and loop tack test.
Rolling ball test:
With the help of this test, the tackiness and behavior of the adhesive are tested. In this method, a steel ball is rolled on the sticky surface of the adhesive tape from an inclined track. The tackiness of the adhesive can be tested by determining the distance covered by the steel ball. If the distance covered by the balls is shorter, then the tackiness of the adhesive is superior.
Loop tack test:
In this method, the sticky surface of the self-adhesive rubber tape is stuck on a tensile tester machine. Similarly, a loop of the tape is also attached to a square adhesive contact area. The tensile tester machine pulls away from the tape from the sticky surface to gauge the tackiness of the tape. The machine records the value in numbers that helps the manufacturers to evaluate the effectiveness of the tape.
To Sum It Up
The self adhesive rubber is used with various backing materials also known as a carrier. It is a thin film on which the rubber adhesive is attached. Plastic films, metal foil, paper, cloth, and fiberglass are different types of carriers on which self adhesive rubbers are most used. Based on your needs and requirements, select the type of self-adhesive rubber tape and ease your assembly process.
