Collection: Single-Sided Adhesive Tape

A cloth, vinyl, polyester or aluminium adhesive tape is not used to join but to protect, mark, mask, insulate or repair. The catalogue has 40 single-sided references, and the choice almost always comes down to the backing, not the adhesive.

By backing type

• Cloth: 3M 389, 2903, 2904, 1900, Advance Tapes range. Tears by hand, conforms to shapes, holds on rough surfaces.
• Vinyl: 3M 471 and 767. Flexible, coloured, used for floor marking and identification.
• Polyester: 3M 8992, 850. Very thin, does not stretch, temperature resistant, used for masking baked paint and for insulation.
• Aluminium: see our aluminium tapes, for sealing and heat reflection.
• Technical: PTFE 3M 5490, glass cloth 3M 361 and 5451, 3M 500 sandblasting tape, 3M 5401 and 5461 traction tape.

See also our double-sided tapes and our masking tapes.

The adhesive matters as much as the backing

Three families of adhesive, three behaviours over time.

Rubber grabs very strongly on first contact, even on an imperfect surface. It ages badly: in heat and UV it hardens or oozes, and leaves a stubborn residue.

Acrylic grabs less at first and builds strength over several days. It then holds for years outdoors without yellowing. It is the choice whenever the tape must stay in place.

Silicone is the only one that adheres to a siliconised surface and the only one that holds at very high temperature.

Removal, often the real criterion

For masking or temporary protection, the question is not how the tape holds but how it comes off. Two parameters govern this.

Duration. A tape intended for a few hours left on for several weeks sees its adhesive migrate into the substrate. It then breaks into pieces on removal.

Heat and sun. Both accelerate the same migration. Masking left outside for a week in summer causes more problems than a month in the workshop.

The useful gesture: pull at a sharp angle, almost parallel to the surface, rather than at ninety degrees.