Masking Tape Adhesive Issues During The Winter

Have you had trouble getting your adhesive tapes to stick to your product over the last few weeks? Don't fret – we know why.? Throughout this post, we'll address what issues cold temperatures can cause during your masking process, test results of where the core problems lie, and how to prevent these issues from happening so that your paint line can achieve sufficient masking results.

Common Issues in the Winter

Tape Appears to Warp When Cold

Colder conditions will cause rolls of masking tapes to actually expand differently than the core the tape is on. When this happens, the tape will appear to have a bump on the roll.

Luckily, the bump will disappear when the tape is heated back to room temperature. We've included a time-lapse of what this looks like. As you can see, the tape (pulled from the freezer) has an odd bump on the top. Over approximately 10 minutes, the tape returned to its original form as its temperature increased to room temperature.

Tape Adhesion and Sealing Issues

Transportation and storage during the cold winter can cause application adhesion difficulties due to low temperatures impeding the wet-out process. This means that your adhesives aren't getting enough applied pressure to achieve sufficient wet-out because of the low temperatures the winter months create.

This has probably caused your adhesives to become brittle and may have failed to produce stickiness or pressure on your products.

The cold tape will impact the adhesion, but after testing, we found that it tends to be only part of the equation...

Testing Tape vs. Metal Surface Temperatures

Peel Force

There is a significant difference in peel strength between the four scenarios we tested. Peel force is a major indicator of the quality of the bond. As many of our customers can attest, you will run into issues on the line if your tape doesn’t have a solid bond. It’s as simple as that.

Testing Results

Here are the averages for each scenario converted into more familiar units. We’ve also reported a performance drop compared to substrate and tape at room temperature.

It’s crazy to think that something as simple as temperature could impact the bond as much as 40%! What other variables in your process might have this kind of impact?

Tips for Avoiding Adhesion Issues

Recommended Storage & Application Temperature for Masking Tape

We recommend a temperature between?65°F – 75°F when applying pressure-sensitive adhesives and substrates. If the temperature is below this, use a heat source to bring parts up to room temperature. Applications less than 50°F will cause bonding problems.

Allowing time for PSAs and your substrates to warm up is essential.

Applying the Tape

Ensuring the correct temperature storage will be useless if you don't ensure that the surfaces it will be bonded to are not clean.

A clean surface is VITAL when masking, especially when using adhesive tapes. This is the most common source of masking tape failure.

Any dirt or oil on the substrate will prevent adhesive-wet out of the surface and will probably result in bond failure.

Use Pressure When Applying Tape

Don't forget that these tapes use PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesives). This means that for them to mask the parts effectively, you must apply pressure to bond to the surface.

We typically recommend using a squeegee or roller to obtain maximum adhesion.

Letting the parts sit for a few hours will also help increase the bond, primarily if you work in a colder environment. But, we understand that you may not have time to wait in most cases

Conclusion

Does your company have a procedure for storing your materials? After seeing this test, I hope you see how important it is to implement a solid process to ensure consistency. Think about where your materials are stored at your facility. Are they stored in a completely uncontrolled environment? Are they stored against an exterior-facing wall? If storage and application temperature aren’t controlled as part of your internal operating procedures, you will have difficulty troubleshooting issues on your line. As the seasons change, so will the quality of your product.

Last but not least, please don't hesitate to?contact us?if you are having issues with this and need to talk about it more. We are happy to walk you through this process to ensure sufficient bonding pressure for your PSAs!