Industrial Protective Tape Prevents Product Damage and is Durable Enough for Component Mounting

Engineers working on manufacturing technology, are you facing problems like these when it comes to assembling electronic circuit boards or manufacturing various components?

• Defects caused by contaminants sticking to products during the manufacturing process
• Loss of protection due to protective tape deforming during the reflow process
• Extra work required to remove adhesive residue after peeling off protective tape
• Need for tape that covers complex shapes

Manufacturing processes for electronic circuit boards and various components can cause the adhesion or inclusion of foreign substances, which may result in defects. For instance, dust, debris, or droplets of solder or flux in the reflow environment can stick to parts or boards. Likewise, drilling holes in boards can generate shavings, and residual water can remain after cleaning. Not only that, but packaging and padding debris can stick to or work their way into products during shipping.

Dexerials’ GPF8100 Industrial Protective Tape solves these problems by protecting sensitive items from contaminants like those.

​Our GPF8100 tape with heat-resistant adhesive is a single-sided tape designed to prevent deformation during high-temperature processes, such as reflow soldering to mount electronic components, and avoid leaving adhesive residue on the product after removal. GPF8100 is ideal in manufacturing a wide range of electronic circuit boards because it is easy to apply, stays securely in place even when complex shapes are involved, and effectively protects products from contaminants.

In this article we will discuss the characteristics of our industrial protective tape, which solves an array of pressing manufacturing process problems.

Manufacturing use cases for GPF8100 Industrial Protective Tape

GPF8100 Industrial Protective Tape is designed for manufacturing electronic devices and precision machinery. Applying this protective tape to necessary locations securely protects important components from dust and cardboard debris during shipping, solder and flux generated during the reflow process, drill shavings, and more.

Applying protective tape to electrical circuit boards, such as the terminal area of printed circuit boards (PCBs), can prevent contamination of terminal surfaces during reflow soldering. The tape can also protect non-processed surfaces on machined components such as lenses to prevent product contamination arising from foreign substances generated during machining. 

A reliable protector that’s easy to use

Suitable for high-temperature processes

Standard tape exposed to the high temperature of the reflow process can deform and the adhesive may melt. Dexerials’ industrial protective tape, in contrast, reliably maintains its protective capabilities even after high-temperature processes such as reflow soldering.

No residual adhesive after removal

When using conventional protective tape, you may need to add a cleaning step to remove any adhesive that remains after peeling off the tape. Our industrial protective tape eliminates this problem by leaving no residual adhesive. That represents savings in time and processing costs, meaning more efficient production.

Suitable for flexible shape processing

We can provide our industrial protective tape positioned on sheets and processed into shapes that fit the parts you need protected. We can also supply pre-shaped tape positioned on long rolls of film to support automated manufacturing processes.

Heat-resistant adhesive that peels off residue-free after heat treatment

As mentioned above, protective tape used in manufacturing processes that involve high temperatures must leave no adhesive residue when removed after processing is complete. Some conventional protective tapes use adhesive with low heat resistance, leading to residue as shown below.

When considering which protective tape to use in manufacturing processes, it is critical to select tape suited to the use case to avoid problems like this. With many years of adhesive tape development and manufacturing under our belt, Dexerials has developed an adhesive that leaves no residue after heat treatment and used it to launch GPF8100 Industrial Protective Tape. 

Adhesion strength comparison data (pre- and post-heat treatments) from a 180° peel test

Adhesion strength 180°

Advantages of protective sheets over liquids

Liquid protectants are also on the market, designed to protect products during the manufacturing process. These products use a dispenser or other applicator to apply water-soluble protectant to the area you want to cover, which then hardens to protect items of any shape.

While liquid protectants excel at protecting three-dimensional products, application can be inconsistent, and the liquid can spread beyond the target area. The protectant takes time to dry and harden as well. In addition, cleaning is required to remove the protectant when protection is no longer necessary. This adds extra steps that cost both time and money, especially in cases where just one round of cleaning is not enough to remove all the protectant.

Although solidified liquid protectant can be physically removed, unlike tape it lacks a tab for easy peeling. Again, this means extra steps and time for removal. So, we believe protective tape products have the usability advantage. 

Flexible sheet shape processing to meet varied needs

Protecting products of various shapes and sizes requires protective sheets tailor-made into a wide variety of shapes. Dexerials can leverage our expertise in shape processing technology to customize protective sheets in complex shapes like those below.

What’s more, we can support manufacturing automation by providing protective sheets on rolls. The maximum roll width we normally handle is 480 mm, but please contact us if you need larger sizes.

The images below show examples of shapes we can support and the characteristics of protective sheets.

End-to-end protection for parts in manufacturing processes that span multiple companies

Dexerials’ industrial protective tape offers easy-to-apply protection without extra steps such as the dispenser adjustments that liquid protectants need. It can also be removed without leaving adhesive residue, enabling simple manufacturing processes without the need for cleaning.

If you’re a manufacturing engineer looking for a way to protect products in high-temperature environments such as reflow soldering, why not consider our GPF8100 Industrial Protective Tape? It can help to simplify your manufacturing process and control quality by how easy it is to apply and remove.

A characteristic of electronic component manufacturing is that it is common for the production process to split among multiple companies across the entire supply chain. For example, Company A manufactures components, Company B mounts them using reflow soldering, and Company C assembles them into products. GPF8100 can protect important parts throughout the supply chain in the following way:  1. Company A applies protective tape (protection starts) 2. The tape prevents foreign-matter adhesion and contamination during Company B’s reflow process (active protection), and  3. Company C removes the tape after assembly is complete (protection ends). 

If this tape sparks your interest, please use the link below to explore it in more detail. We can also provide technical materials and samples upon request.

Learn more about the GPF8100 industrial protective tape