How to produce straight mobilon tape?

TPU elastic tapes are widely used in apparel manufacturing, medical equipment, sports goods, and other fields. Ensuring high quality, stability, and aesthetic appeal of TPU mobilon tape involves a key step in the production process: high-temperature heat treatment.

Basic steps in TPU elastic tape production

1. Raw material preparation: The first step in producing TPU elastic tapes is selecting high-quality TPU raw materials. TPU is a material with high elasticity and wear resistance, and choosing the right raw materials is fundamental to ensuring the quality of the elastic tapes.

2. Extrusion molding: The TPU raw materials are processed and molded through an extruder. This step involves heating the TPU material to a molten state and then extruding it into a tape shape through a mold. Control during the extrusion molding process is critical as it determines the initial dimensions and basic shape of the elastic tapes.

3. Cooling and solidification: The extruded TPU tape need to be rapidly cooled and solidified to fix their initial shape. This cooling is usually done through a water trough or air cooling system.

4. Preliminary shaping: After cooling and solidification, the TPU elastic tapes undergo preliminary shaping to ensure basic straightness and elasticity. This step typically includes stretching and finishing to make the width and thickness of the tapes more uniform.

Key Step: High-temperature heat treatment

In the production of TPU elastic mobilon tape, high-temperature heat treatment is crucial for ensuring their straightness and stability. This process modifies the internal molecular structure of the TPU material, significantly enhancing its physical properties.

1. Heat treatment equipment: Specialized high-temperature heat treatment equipment is used to process the pre-formed TPU elastic tapes. Accurate temperature control in the equipment is essential to achieve and maintain the desired treatment temperature.

2. High-temperature heating: The TPU elastic tapes are heated to a specific temperature to rearrange their internal molecular structure. This step not only eliminates the internal stresses generated during extrusion and cooling but also enhances the elasticity and rebound properties of the tapes. Typical heat treatment temperatures range from 80°C to 120°C, adjusted based on the characteristics of the TPU material and the thickness of the elastic tapes.

3. Constant temperature treatment: Once the target temperature is reached, it is maintained for a period ranging from minutes to hours, depending on the thickness of the elastic tapes and the desired physical properties. This step ensures the complete reorganization of the molecular structure, optimizing the physical performance of the tapes.

4. Rapid cooling: After heat treatment, the elastic tapes need to be rapidly cooled to fix their heat-treated molecular structure. This rapid cooling is usually done through a water trough or air cooling system, ensuring that the tapes do not deform during the cooling process.

Effects of high-temperature heat treatment

High-temperature heat treatment significantly improves the physical properties of TPU elastic tapes in the following ways:

1. Elasticity and rebound performance: The treatment stabilizes the elasticity and rebound performance of the TPU elastic tapes, preventing them from losing elasticity after prolonged use or multiple stretches.

2. Ductility: Treated elastic tapes exhibit better ductility, making them suitable for a wider range of applications and increasing their lifespan.

3. Physical stability: Heat treatment eliminates internal stresses in the elastic tapes, making them less prone to deformation and wrinkling, thus ensuring a smooth and straight appearance.

4. Sewing efficiency: Straight and smooth TPU elastic tapes are easier to sew, improving production efficiency and reducing material waste and labor costs.

Other production considerations

In addition to high-temperature heat treatment, several other factors are crucial in producing straight TPU elastic tapes:

1. Material selection: Using high-quality TPU raw materials and avoiding recycled or low-quality materials ensure the quality and performance of the elastic tapes from the start.

2. Equipment maintenance: Regular maintenance of production equipment, such as extruders, heat treatment machines, and cooling systems, ensures stable and consistent production processes.

3. Quality control: Implementing strict quality control measures during production, including online and end-point inspections, ensures that each batch of elastic tapes meets expected quality standards.

4. Environmental control: The production environment also affects the quality of TPU mobilon tape. Maintaining a clean production area with appropriate temperature and humidity helps prevent material contamination and performance degradation.

Compared with common TPU tape, the straight TPU elastic tape is much easy to sew for garment manufacturers. Because of the high-temperature heat treatment, the production cost is higher. Therefore, the straight TPU tape is one of the characters of high quality TPU tape.