Adhesive tapes for the electronics industry

Screening interference: conductive foil, conductive adhesive

The point most often missed when buying a shielding tape is the adhesive. An ordinary acrylic adhesive is an insulator, so every overlap in the foil becomes an electrical break and the shield is only as good as its worst joint. Copper Foil Tape is coated with an electrically conductive, pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive, so current passes through the glue line where two layers of foil meet and a spiral-wrapped harness or a taped enclosure seam behaves as one continuous shield. It is supplied at 65 to 70 micron, which is thin enough to press into corners and seams without lifting at the edges, and it passes the 2-point test method and bears a temperature range of T2. Our guide to copper foil tape for EMI shielding and grounding goes further into why the overlap is the weak point, how grounding differs from shielding, and which figures we publish for this grade and which we deliberately do not.

Insulating where it gets hot and stays hot

A thermal class describes continuous service capability, not a momentary peak, which is why it is the figure to buy against for anything near a heater, a motor or a power stage. Mr.Bond® Heat Sealing Tape is a PTFE/Teflon-coated woven fibreglass cloth tape with a silicone adhesive, rated Class H (180°C), with high dielectric strength, low electrical losses and non-tracking behaviour, excellent chemical resistance and a low-friction non-sticking surface. It also stays dimensionally stable under heat and pressure, which is what makes it usable on heat-sealing equipment as well as in high-temperature electrical work.

Where the hot insulation has to be thin and flexible rather than woven, Mr.Bond® Polyimide Tape carries the same 180°C class in film form, in flame-retardant (FR) grade with outstanding dielectric strength. For coils and conductors, Mr.Bond® Black Cotton Tape is the traditional choice: 100% fine insulated cotton substrate with a strong rubber-based adhesive, used for conductor wrapping, connection wrapping and interlayer coil insulation, available in white and black with die-cut sizes and other thicknesses customisable. Polyimide is also the film used to protect the golden finger when a PCB passes through the soldering tin furnace; our comparison of polyimide, PVC and polyester insulation tapes sets out which carrier suits which job, including the polyester (PET) tapes used in transformers, capacitors and LED TVs.

Holding components without fasteners

LKJ® EVA Double-Sided Foam Tape gives stable adhesion when fixing components in an assembly, circuit boards, displays and other critical parts, with the foam carrier taking up the small irregularities a rigid tape would bridge instead of bonding. Single-sided foam tapes in EVA and PE bases are specified for the quieter problems: insulation, reducing vibration and blocking noise. For thin, high-clarity mounting work our sister brand supplies Prateek® double-sided polyester tapes and the PTK® double-sided tissue grades.

Evidencing a flame rating

Where the bonding tape itself has to carry the flame rating, Mr.Bond® 4500 FLR is a fire-proof double-sided tissue tape with excellent adhesion, UL 94 V0 approved for flame retardancy. UL 94 is the standard classification for the flammability of plastic materials and V0 is the highest of its vertical burn ratings, so it is the grade to quote when a specification asks for a flame-rated bond rather than a flame-rated insulator. Before writing the class into a drawing, read what UL 94 V-0 means on a tape: it sets out what the vertical burn test measures, how V-0 differs from V-1 and V-2, and why flame-retardant grade and a UL 94 classification are not the same claim.

Starting an enquiry

Send the substrates, the width and roll length, the temperature the assembly reaches and any dielectric or flame-rating requirement in your specification. Rolls are slit from 12 mm to 1200 mm, die-cut sizes and other thicknesses can be customised, and samples are available on request. Our engineering team will specify a grade against the job. If the assembly is a battery pack, start instead from the EV battery tapes hub or the EV industry page.