Packaging Tape Tips: Choosing The Right Tape For Your Boxes

You have got a plenty of options when it comes to sealing your cartons. But how to identify what types of Packaging tapes are right for you? There’re a lot of factors that contribute to choosing the right tape including tape grade, environment, adhesion surface, and quality ofcourse. Let’s take a look.

Environment - While choosing the right type of packaging, shipping and receiving environment must be closely monitored. Factors that must be kept in mind are humidity, temperature and how long tape will remain in such environments. If you ignore the environmental factors while selecting the tape can result in badly sealed cartons which ultimately leads to product damage.

Tape grade - As you might know, packaging tape grades are available in a wide variety. Each tape has multiple grades based on the type of adhesive and thickness level. These tape grades are related to tensile strength, of the material resistance to breaking under tension. To keep it simple –For lightweight boxes, lower grades are best and for heavy duty applications, higher grades are ideal.

Adhesion Surface - Manufacturers commonly use recycled boxes and water activated tapes must be used for them. The tapes ability to be applied can be affected by the recycled materials, hence certain types if boxes require the correct type of tape.

Quality - Tape is one of the most important types of packaging materials and its quality plays a significant role when it comes to your packaging performance. Using best quality tape helps in less product damage which ensures the safe arrival of your products at the final destination. Using low-quality tapes increases the damage risk and impacts your overall image and output.

While tapes can be used for a wide range of applications, their adhesives are designed for adhering to line board or corrugated cartons. The backing materials are also optimized to provide the tensile strength required for sealing the carton. Though all packaging tapes are not the same. There are three types of pressure sensitive packaging tape you must be familiar with.

• Hot Melt Packing Tape - It is the most popular and economical option for carton sealing. Synthetic rubber adhesion is used in such tape which performs excellently adhesion in temperatures ranging from 45°F to 120°F. It is generally found in white, clear or tan and available in variety of thickness for hand or machine application.

• Acrylic Packing Tape - It looks quite similar to the hot melt tape but comes with different performance features. It performs well in 32°F to 140°F temperatures. This makes it ideal for cartons stored or shipped in extremely cold or hot temperatures. This also resists yellowing over time and offers excellent clarity.

• Natural Rubber Packing Tape - Natural rubber adhesion is used in place of synthetic. These offer superior adhesion across wide range of temperatures but are quite expensive. These are the pressure-sensitive packing tapes that you can turn to when nothing else works!

Irrespective of the type of carton sealing tape you choose, Wellpack as one of the best packaging suppliers, UK has got you covered. We stock a wide selection of pressure-sensitive and water-activated packing tapes for every possible application. Not sure what you need? Contact us today, we will guide you in the right direction!