THE RELEASE COAT SYSTEM
Release coatings are an integral, indispensable tape construction component. All self-wound pressure sensitive tapes require some sort of release mechanism. My many years’ experience in the tape industry has led me to believe that an increased emphasis on the total release coat system would benefit many practitioners. Tape products can suffer from the following release related problems:
- Inconsistent, unreliable, unwind performance
- High processing, product waste
- Excessive release coating material costs
- Over engineered, “too easy” unwind tape products
Inconsistent unwind performance is common; high unwind, low unwind and my favorite, no unwind situations can and do happen. When release coatings are outside of targeted specification ranges, costs go up, material waste increases, tape jumbos freeze, and the finished product is rejected due to quality issues.
Of course, companies react when these problems manifest. Commonly, management resorts to “too easy release”. Then, of course, customers and marketing personnel complain. Sometimes, the technician answers back, “that’s the nature of the Beast”, well, it does not need to be this way, if one understands the complete RELEASE COAT SYSTEM.
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