If you followed the somewhat dubious advice to tape over your windows in the face of last weekend’s hurricane, now you are faced with the task of getting that tape off the windows. The most common product for window taping is duct tape, and, naturally, that is one of the most difficult tapes to clean. […]
I spent yesterday afternoon driving through eastern North Carolina, one of the areas hit most heavily by hurricane Irene. All along the main highways, stores with large glass windows and doors had tape stretched from side to side, apparently to minimize flying glass if the windows were broken. According to the most recent recommendation from […]
Last minute preparations for the onslaught of Hurricane Irene along the East Coast have led to a spike in duct tape sales at home improvement centers like Home Depot and Lowes. While duct tape won’t keep windows from breaking in high winds or from flying debris, putting tape on the windows will prevent, or slow […]
Ongoing research at the University of Colorado-Boulder may someday lead to a safe, organic, biodegradable tape adhesive. Graphene, a material derived from wood, has proven to have very powerful adhesive qualities that may well lend themselves to the manufacture of adhesive backed tapes Graphene combines flexibility with adhesion, two very important characteristics for adhesives. You […]
A piece of tape may look smooth and flat, but it is actually made up of a least four layers, bonded together to create something that when viewed from the side, under a microscope, looks like a sandwich. Most tapes consist of these layers: Backing Release coating Primer Adhesive Backings can be made from paper, […]
We’ve been aware of the use of duct tape as a crafts item and have even periodically written about clever items made with duct tape. Until recently, I had no idea how big this crafts industry has become. It is pretty impressive. One of the most highly traveled web sites for people who run their […]
The Spoof, an “alternative” news source has stepped in to clear up some historical inaccuracies regarding the invention of duct tape. Not only do they straighten out the ongoing confusion between the terms “duct tape” and “duck tape”, but they provide give credit where credit is due by honoring 80’s icon McGyver by acknowledging him […]
A Midwestern Health Systems hospital is using red duct tape to create a “safe zone” for allowing hospital staff to communicate with isolated patients without having to don gloves and masks. It appears that taping a three foot square just inside a patients door and having health care providers occupy the square when communicating with […]
3M 3903 vinyl duct tape is an all vinyl (no cloth reinforcing fibers) alternative to what is normally considered duct tape. The 3M product is an embossed vinyl film offered in seven colors. It uses the same adhesive (natural rubber) as standard duct tape and can be hand torn. It is considered an economy grade […]
We’re always on the look out for ways to increase our knowledge about tape manufacturing, particularly when it comes to the raw materials that are used to make the different products we sell. Duct tape gets its “stickiness” (known in the industry as adhesion) from an adhesive made from natural rubber, the material that is […]