Budnick Converting ®
Surface Energy and Dynes
What is surface energy and how does it affect adhesive products? How do dynes play a role in determining the type of adhesive to use
"Surface energy is also called surface tension. A good way to understand surface energy and how it relates to tape is to take a white board marker and a solvent marker and try to mark onto a plastic. Plastics tend to have low surface energy and water-based markers also have low surface energy. As a result, a water based whiteboard marker does not wet out as well as a solvent based marker so it doesn’t write very well. A solvent marker like a sharpie or other permanent marker makes a good line on more surfaces because the solvent has very high surface energy and wets out.
Adhesive tapes are the same way. If the adhesive does not wet out onto a surface, the surface needs to be modified to increase the surface energy. This can be done by using a tape particularly good at sticking to low surface energy materials such as a silicone or a very aggressive adhesive like acrylics or rubbers can overcome the low surface energy by chemically bonding to the surface. If a tape doesn’t stick to a surface, a prime coating can be used just like painting a house. Or corona etching or other processes can enhance the surface energy of the material.
Some materials have very low surface energy (Dyne is the unit of measure for surface energy.). PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) or Teflon has very low surface energy and is often used to make non-stick cooking surfaces. Food will not stick to the surface- nor will adhesive tapes. If you were to write on PTFE with a marker, you would not get a good line even with a permanent marker because the ink would bead up like water on a newly waxed car."
This information was provided by Richard J. Austin of Saint-Gobain.
"Surface energy is also called surface tension. A good way to understand surface energy and how it relates to tape is to take a white board marker and a solvent marker and try to mark onto a plastic. Plastics tend to have low surface energy and water-based markers also have low surface energy. As a result, a water based whiteboard marker does not wet out as well as a solvent based marker so it doesn’t write very well. A solvent marker like a sharpie or other permanent marker makes a good line on more surfaces because the solvent has very high surface energy and wets out.
Adhesive tapes are the same way. If the adhesive does not wet out onto a surface, the surface needs to be modified to increase the surface energy. This can be done by using a tape particularly good at sticking to low surface energy materials such as a silicone or a very aggressive adhesive like acrylics or rubbers can overcome the low surface energy by chemically bonding to the surface. If a tape doesn’t stick to a surface, a prime coating can be used just like painting a house. Or corona etching or other processes can enhance the surface energy of the material.
Some materials have very low surface energy (Dyne is the unit of measure for surface energy.). PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) or Teflon has very low surface energy and is often used to make non-stick cooking surfaces. Food will not stick to the surface- nor will adhesive tapes. If you were to write on PTFE with a marker, you would not get a good line even with a permanent marker because the ink would bead up like water on a newly waxed car."
This information was provided by Richard J. Austin of Saint-Gobain.