Ready For Lunch? How About A Tape Sandwich
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, cloth, vinyl films metals, and foams, just to name a few. The backing, for example, for gaffers tape is cotton cloth.
The release coating goes on top of the backing so that the tape can unwind off the roll. Without a release coat, one layer of tape will stick to the next with so much adhesion you could never unroll it.
The primer goes on the sticky side of the backing (the bottom) and gives the adhesive the ability to bond to the backing. This is what allows the tape to come up with the adhesive still attached, rather than migrating to the surface on which the tape was affixed.
The last layer of the sandwich is the adhesive. This gives the tape its “stickiness” and this varies from one type of tape to the next. A tape like gaffers tape which is designed to come up clean with no adhesive residue left behind uses a synthetic adhesive derived from petroleum. Some of the most common types of tape adhesive are made from natural rubber.
Want to know more? Here’s a great article to read while you eat your sandwich.
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