'The Tackifier' Blog by FindTape

Will This Adhesive Tape Hold? Testing the Adhesive Strength of Double-Sided Tape.

You may not believe it, but double-sided adhesive tape has remarkable – even Herculean! – strength. Some pressure-sensitive tape is even used as a replacement for rivets in buildings or in manufacturing. In other words, it's not just for mounting frames and other wall hangings.

Double-sided tapes are available in different backing or carrier types such as film, tissue, cloth, paper and foam and they are available in a range of peel adhesions and tensile strengths. Our least adhesive double-sided film tape, the JVCC DC-4109RS product has a peel adhesion of 29 ounces per inch and is comparable to a general-purpose masking tape. It's perfect for mounting lightweight items, such as nameplates.

But that's just a start. Some of the other double-sided tapes we offer at FindTape.com have very impressive strength and adherence qualities. A double-sided film tape like Scapa S301 Double Coated UPVC Tape is adhesive enough to be used in product assembly, while 3M 4950 VHB Tape is used in both interior and exterior structural bonding applications.

But rather than tell you about the adhesive strength of our double-sided tapes, I'd like to show you. In this video, I test four double-sided tapes to see which one can support the most weight. Check it out.

Ludlow M-Tak HI/LO Extended Liner Tape is now being stocked in liner widths of 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch wide (the tape comes in lengths of both 216 feet and 1,300 feet per roll). The extended liner on the tape allows end users to easily remove it since there is a 1/8 inch overhang on both the top and bottom of the tape (the liner is also printed with the words "TO EXPOSE ADHESIVE REMOVE LINER"). Ludlow HI/LO is differentially coated which a clear, lightweight adhesive for temporary bonding and repositioning on one side, and a permanent adhesive for long-term bonding on the other side. Its perfect for lightweight attachments where removability from one surface is key, e.g. business forms, mailers, envelopes, posters, labels, etc.

Our converter has recently made available a new test pack that contains a variety of double-sided tapes. FindTape DC-TP Double-Sided Tape Test Pack consists of 12 rolls of 1-inch wide x 3-yard long tape. The carrier varieties included in the pack are: polyester, polypropylene and PVC film; tissue; crepe and flatback paper; polyethylene foam; cloth and scrim; and foamed and solid acrylic polymers.

Currently the specific double-sided tapes offered in the pack include: Polyken 105C-P Cloth Tape; JVCC DC-4199CS Polyester Film Tape; JVCC DC-1503 Polypropylene Film Tape; JVCC DC-4420LB Clear PVC Film Tape; JVCC DCP-01 and DCP-02 Crepe Paper Tape; JVCC DCP-04 Flatback Paper Tape; JVCC DCT-40R Tissue Tape; JVCC DC-SCRIM-9 Polyester Scrim Tape; JVCC DC-PEF06A Polyethylene Foam Tape; JVCC DC-UHB45FA-G Foamed Acrylic Tape; and JVCC DC-UHB45 Solid Acrylic Foam Tape.

3M 9415PC is a translucent polyester film differentially coated with a removable/repositionable, low tack, adhesive on one side (back/liner side) and a permanent, high tack, adhesive on the other (face/exposed side). Unlike the other differentially coated tapes on the web site the removable side on this tape is also repositionable so its good when you need multiple openings and closings. Also its removable low tack side offers only nominal adhesion so its good for paper mailings since it will not cause delamination from most paper stock.

Scapa S301 is a clear UPVC film tape coated on both sides with an exceptionally high tack, high peel, acrylic adhesive system. It offers excellent adhesion even to demanding surfaces such as sports jerseys. It also meets the compositional requirements of FDA regulation 21 CFR175.105 (adhesives) for indirect food contact.

3M 4952 VHB tape is a closed-cell firm acrylic foam which is coated on both sides with a low-surface energy synthetic adhesive. This is the tape in the 3M VHB family best suited to bond to many lower surface energy substrates including many plastics and powder coated paints. The tape offers excellent adhesion, durability and solvent and moisture resistance.

So my family is always making fun of me for insisting we use adhesive tape to solve every problem, so I decided to actually document what tape I've used over the last couple weeks to see how excessive I've really become.

1. I used some black Polyken 510 gaffers tape to hold the power cord in place on an air compressor. Comes off cleanly and doesn't dry out like rubber bands do.
2. Recently put in a new sliding glass door and it came with a molding piece which was to be put on as finish to the side of one of the doors. I assume it was meant to be glued on (the instructions didn't say), but I used some JVCC DC-UHB40FA-C ultra high bond double-sided tape to mount it (I also used some white gaffers tape to hold it in place while the adhesive bond was setting).
3. On a day-to-day basis the tape I probably use the most is Shurtape JLAR. My 3-year old son is always tearing or ripping something in one of his books and this is great for book repairs. I still have some old rolls left over from when Permacel still made the tape and what I love about it is that they crush-cut the rolls so you could just pull on a length of the tape to break it by hand (no scissors needed). Now that its made by Shurtape is razor-cut like most tape so you can't do that anymore, but hopefully my supply will last a while longer.
4. I've been using 3M EC100 super glue all week to fix ornaments like the purse on this snow-lady. One thing I really like about EC100 is that it doesn't seem to clog up and become unusable after you use it a couple of times like I've had happen with other super glues.
5. I've been using a lot of gaffers tape over the holiday season to hold down cords - here I've used some 4 inch white Scapa 225 gaff tape to cover a green extension cord on my front door. It's a bit wrinkled since I probably should have gotten some help putting it on (it's a little hard applying wider width gaffers and duct tape alone), but you should get the general idea.
6. 3M 109 double-sided poster tape is great for putting up your kid's artwork on walls since it easily removable. In this case I even used some to hold the 109 dispenser up to the wall so I could take the photo.
7. I'm a big fan of the JVCC GLW Glow-in-the-Dark tape and use it on electronics all around the house. I'm always a little surprised when I see reviews of glow tape say it's not very bright. It's definitely not a high-powered light source and wouldn't compare in intensity to say a flashlight, but to darkness-adjusted eye it works great to help you find a remote control in the middle of the night in order to turn off the TV you left on. I haven't mastered the art of photographing a glow product in darkness yet so this is just showing the product in daytime light - pretty boring.
8. Besides the Shurtape/Permacel JLAR, double-sided carpet tape is the other type of tape I used the most often probably. Here I've used some Polyken 105C to hold down the mat rug on a landing outside in the garage.
9. I was having an issue with some file drawers I had on some shelving downstairs. When you pulled the drawer completely out it would overhang the shelving and cause the back of the file drawer to pop up and the heavy drawer overhanging the shelving would then pull it off the shelf (not a very good storage system). I used some extra 2 x 4 pieces to brace the Vaultz File Drawers in place, but I first lined it with some JVCC FELT-06 felt tape to make sure it didn't dig in or scratch the drawers.
10. We just got in some of these Wooster Caution Non-Skid Cleats and figured they would work great on some outside steps I had in the garage. I was going to use the glow-in-the-dark cleats we got in from Wooster instead, but the area I used them on in the garage is pretty dark so I didn't think they would get enough light-activation to work properly. Figured the "Caution" cleats would actually be more visible.
11. To repair a big crack in my garbage can I used some JVCC 762-BD bi-directional filament tape as the first layer and then overlapped it with some wider width Polyken 231 military-grade duct tape. I should probably just call the trash pickup company to get a new receptacle, but this is way more fun.

So not too excessive - is it?

Nashua has recently released two new tarp tapes designed for extended outdoor exposure. Nashua 680004 Heavy Duty Tarp Tape is single-sided black polyethylene film tape which can be used to seal and seam heavy-weight poly tarps. It is designed for 6 to 8 months of outdoor exposure. Nashua 680006 Double-Sided Tarp Tape is a cloth tape with adhesive on both sides which comes on a blue film release liner. It is also used to seam heavy-weight tarps and is suitable for up to 12 months of outdoor exposure. The tapes are available in a 2 inch width and limited inventories of both are now in stock.