Sealing tape is a single-sided, pressure-sensitive tape used mostly for closing or sealing slotted containers such as packing cartons and corrugated fiberboard boxes. It is commonly used in warehousing industries for shipping and packaging needs. An adhesive is coated onto the backing material, which is usually made out of polypropylene or polyester film.
Sealing tape is the type of tape manufactured by tape suppliers to guard against score line breaking and center seam splitting, both common problems when boxes are handled roughly. Like packaging tape, it is most often used for shipping and package securing applications. Because sealing tapes resist tearing, splitting, curling and moisture, they are efficient and effective in this arena. Sealing tapes are made with a variety of different coating types. Acrylic adhesives provide high resistance to environmental elements, epoxy resins exhibit high strength and low shrinkage during curing, and polyurethane (PUR) has good flexibility, impact resistance and durability. Silicone has a high temperature resistance, and rubber-based adhesives create highly flexible bonds. The coating processes themselves depend on what material is being used, but remain the same generalized processes in essence. All three of these coating techniques, the water-based coating, solvent coating and hot-melt coating alter the adhesive so that it will cover the tape material and then let it cool on its own or run it through an oven to bake the adhesive on.
Sealing tapes are made with different peel and tensile strengths, temperature resistances and dielectric strengths. Sealing tape is often applied using a hand-held tape dispenser. Companies like 3M sell tape accessories including dispensers individually as well as packaged with the specific type of tape necessary for a specific job. Sealing tape also comes in different widths, thicknesses and lengths, altered by way of die cutting or slitting processes. Regardless of the width and length, a strip of tape must go through a winding process to turn it into a marketable roll form. The rolls of sealing tape are usually a tan color. Unlike electrical tape, packaging tape and PTFE tape, sealing tape is not used to color code the items it covers, although it is possible for it to double as printed tape. Although they are mostly used to close items such as cardboard boxes in warehousing industries, sealing tapes bond with ceramics, glass, concrete, foam, leather, metal, plastic, paper, rubber, fabric and wood.
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Sealing Tape Image Provided by Carolina Tape & Supply Corporation
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