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Whitepapers and Tek Tips

  • White Paper - Use of Adhesives in the Medical Device Industry

    How to Select the Right Adhesive for Your Application
    Over the past few decades, adhesives in one form or another have been replacing many other fastening systems in the assembly of medical devices. And for good reasons! Adhesives come in many different forms, structural, non-structural and pressure sensitive adhesive, to meet different needs. When chosen judiciously, adhesives can offer significant benefits over other mechanical fastening systems.

    Wednesday, May 2, 2012
  • Tek Tip: What Offset Printers Need to Know About Plastic Films

    Plastic substrates have very different handling and printing characteristics when compared to paper products. If you are not familiar with printing on non-paper substrates please take note of the following:
    • Plastics will not absorb fluids like paper.
    • They restrict the flow of air and other gases between sheets of a stack.
    • All plastics are not the same and will vary in ink receptivity and adhesion.
    • Most plastics will attract and hold a static charge much easier than paper.
    • Plastics generally are more expensive than paper products.

    Wednesday, March 7, 2012
  • Tek Tip: Optimizing the Lamination Process for Card Production

    A Recipe for Success - This Tek Tip was featured in the October 2011 issue of ICMA Card Manufacturing magazine and was written by Tom Mucenski, Car

    Monday, November 28, 2011
  • Tek Tip: Defining Density vs. Specific Gravity

    ¹Density (D) -The mass (or weight) per unit volume of a material at a given
    temperature. Typical units are:
    • grams per cubic centimeter (g/cc or g/cm3)
    • kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3)
    • pounds per cubic foot (lb/cu ft or lb/ft3)
    • pounds per cubic inch (lb/cu in or lb/in3)

    Specific Gravity (sp gr) - AKA relative density. The ratio of the density of a material at a given temperature to the density of an equal volume of water at the same temperature. Units = none.

    Saturday, October 1, 2011
  • Tek Tip: Comparing Polyester and Polycarbonate Films for Switch Actuation Life

    Polyester (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) are the most commonly used films in membrane touch switch (MTS) constructions.  This is because they posses the properties - toughness, durability, processability and esthetics - required for this demanding application.  The choice of films depends on several factors: switch part or component, electronic requirements, end use environment and of course the appearance and performance requirements of the application. The three major parts of a switch where films are used are the circuit layer(s), spacer and graphic overlay. 

    Wednesday, June 1, 2011
  • Tek Tip: Data Sheet Properties vs. Specifications

    Occasionally a specification for a particular product will come to us that is obviously written using values from a data sheet supplied by us or our suppliers. These values have little meaning as far as a guide to manufacturing the product and here’s why:

    Wednesday, March 23, 2011
  • Tek Tip: Pre-Shrinking Parameters for Polyester Films

    The shrinkage of Melinex® film under a given set of thermal conditions can be reduced, if not eliminated, by a technique commonly known as preshrinking. This technique can be employed to improve the dimensional stability of standard or specialty polyester films in order to meet the very tight dimensional tolerances required for membrane switch manufacture.

    Thursday, December 9, 2010
  • Tek Tip: Cold Forming or Bending Polycarbonate Films

    Polycarbonate films are commonly used in a wide variety of graphic applications including labels, switch overlays signage and nameplates. In most of these applications the film is decorated on one or both sides, die cut and then fixed in the final application either by mechanical means or with a pressure sensitive adhesive. In the majority of these applications the film remains flat and performs very well.

    Wednesday, September 1, 2010
  • Tek Tips - Pink Poly Anti-Static Packaging Material Warning for Polycarbonate Users

    Polycarbonate film is commonly used in conjunction with sensitive electronic devices either as a label, window or membrane switch overlay. These devices or components of the same are often packaged in anti-static materials to protect the electronics against damage caused by electrostatic discharge (ESD). One type of anti-static packaging material is commonly referred to as PINK POLY. It is a clear pink (hot pink) polyethylene that is available as a film for bags, bubble pack or foam. It is treated with an amine type compound that imparts the anti-static qualities.

    Tuesday, June 1, 2010
  • Tek Tip: Storage & Handling Recommendations of Pretreated Polyester (PET) Films

    Environmental Considerations:

    Many polyester films are coated or treated on one or both sides to enhance certain properties such as ink/coating adhesion, slip, static dissipation, etc. This coating/treatment will often have properties that are quite different than the base film which is why they work--an adhesion promoting pretreatment provides much better ink adhesion than untreated polyester for instance. The beneficial properties that these treatments provide do not come without a cost.

    Saturday, May 1, 2010
  • Tek Tip: UV Inhibited and Other Ulltraviolet Terms Defined

    This Tek Tip is intended to clear up some of the confusion regarding terms such as: UV STABILIZED, UV RESISTANT, UV INHIBITED, WEATHERABLE, OUTDOOR USE and how they are related to the various products available to and sold by Tekra.

    Thursday, April 1, 2010

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