Discover Reflective Tape

Reflective tape (also known as retro-reflective tape depending on the design elements)

has numerous uses for consumer products including industrial and commercial use around vehicles, signage, pathways, traffic direction, caution signs, garments and more. Reflective tape is applied in a variety of ways using direct application by the individual or professional application with machines.

One of the major applications is in clothing for safety gear and professional garments, with application through non-adhesive sewing or with heat press application using adhesive films that bond to fabric. Whatever the application, reflective tape is designed for one thing - promoting better visibility.

The creation of reflective tape dates well back into the 20th century, with early reflectors using a reflective backing material. These contained round glass beads and were used in things like bike pedals and road reflectors to reflect light back to its source. This technology was refined and the beads were miniaturized for practical use on vehicles and in clothing.

You can't just paste a bunch of small glass beads onto a fabric backing and hope for the best visibility. Reflective tape is carefully engineered in order to create the retro-reflective properties. The base is embossed with microscopic beads, where that base is typically made from PVC. This thermoplastic resin is strong enough to hold the micro-prisms or glass beads in place.

Micro-Prisms - These are what make the reflective tape reflect the light. They are very small, often microscopic prisms that function like a mirror assembly in a reflector. The angle of the micro-prisms is often carefully calculated as its printed on the layer of PVC or PU/PVC tape. These prisms are often coated in resin layers laced with metallic flake that help with the retro-reflective performance.

Adhesives - While many manufacturers rely on sew-on application for their reflective tape and trim, others use adhesive backing to simplify the production process. When adhesives need to be applied, the backing is added once the reflective tape production is complete. Once this process is through, the tape is rolled for distribution. In the event of industrial adhesives being used, backing may be used to keep the tape from sticking to itself permanently.

In instances where a reflective tape has an adhesive backing for sticky application, that backing is added once the reflective material has been created. From there, the adhesive retro-reflective tape is wound up in a roll like duct tape. Depending on the industrial adhesive however, a manufacturer may opt to use a paper backing to cover the adhesive which prevents it from sticking to lower layers of the tape in the roll.

by: Timothy k Griffiths

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