First of all, the adhesive. We produce our own adhesives. In the case of acrylate adhesives, the first step in production is polymerization, after which we need to prepare the adhesive so that it can be applied in thin layers to the respective substrate. The exact method of operation depends on the adhesive.
Secondly, during the production process, some adhesives are transferred by means of an organic solvent that evaporates very easily. We utilize this property: With the aid of the solvent, the adhesive is thinly applied to the substrate through a narrow slit. The adhesive-coated substrate then passes through a drying tunnel to allow the solvent to evaporate. After drying, the coating of the tape is cured and firmly fixed to the substrate. The evaporated solvent is almost completely recycled by Dachser and reused in the production of adhesive tapes.
A third process is used for the production of so-called hot-melt adhesives. We liquefy the adhesive by means of heat and inject it into an extruder (similar to a meat grinder) for mixing. The adhesive is then uniformly applied to the substrate through a slit.
Finally, when coating tapes, the substrate is not yet processed into narrow strips, but rather a wide, large sheet. Our substrates include fabrics, plastic films, foams and other materials. The substrate is wound on a wide roll, then coated and dried as necessary, and finally rewound in one complete roll. In the case of double-sided tapes, a separation layer is also inserted during winding. The process is then restarted in order to coat the other side of the tape. Once the double-sided coating is complete, the entire roll of tape enters another machine where it is cut into many smaller rolls by small roller knives.
After packaging, our Gmark tape is ready to go to the customer.