1. What is mica tape used for?
Mica tape is a kind of insulation material especially mica paper tape and mica tapes, which may be widely used in electronics, electrical appliances and automotive industries.
It can be glued on the surface of components to prevent the temperature rise or the fall of temperature as well as to protect over current products such as transformers, capacitors and so on. Mica Paper Tape has good insulating properties, heat resistance, dielectric strength and dielectric constant smaller than common mica materials with a half thickness of mic tape and its better performance for shape stability. What’s more,it also has excellent insulating property and workmanship after long-term repeated heating and cooling. All these factors mica paper tape is mainly used in mica insulating materials for electronic parts.
2. What is mica glass tape?
Mica Glass Tape, also known as mica tape insulation, mica paper tape, mica insulating tape, mica electrical insulation tape or mica film insulation roll is an insulating material with high dielectric strength. It contains mica mineral which serves as one of the best materials to provide insulation and protect metal surfaces from high temperature in drying ovens; molds; casting machines; graphite resistance heating elements, etc.
It is featured by flexibility, flame-retardant property, and ageing resistance. Mica glass tapes are not easy to break when applied to tension or bending state while its adhesive agent has outstanding adhesion strength (tensile strength ≥0.1Mp/cm) and aging resistance.
Mica glass tape has been gradually abandoned, mica paper tape is still used in some industries such as molds, mica tapes for electrical insulation are widely applied to molds of all kinds, mica electrical insulation tapes are mainly used for insulating electric circuits of welding machines, casting machines or graphite heating elements, etc.
3. How is mica tape made?
Mica paper can be found in various applications at home, office or school. Examples are the back side of the bark papers used for origami, backing under mosaics and tiles, application to picture frames so that they have a semi-glossy translucent look, textile wallpapers giving room an extra shiny touch or as decoupage paper.
Mica is a layered silicate mineral that has been mined for centuries for its use in paints, cosmetics and plastics. The mica minerals come in many forms but all have an almost magical ability to reflect light while also being stable across a wide range of temperatures (from -40° C to over 550° C). Mica is much like its close chemical relatives asbestos (used in fire-resistant material) and talc (used in powder).
Mica paper is made from mica sol, a suspension of mica flakes. The flakes used for making mica paper often come from the mines of India, China and Brazil; it is available as naturally occurring sheets or can be manufactured artificially.
Manufacturing process of Mica tape Paper:
1. First the “flakes” are separated by size range according to their thickness. They are then placed between sheets of Teflon-coated paper which have been treated with starch so they will dissolve when wetted with water. The stack is put between two rollers which exert much pressure on the sheet, squeezing out excess water and flattening theake particles into a very thin sheet of mica.
2. The sheets are then put in an oven which dries them and makes them flexible enough to be punched into the shape desired for decorative use. This usually means round discs, squares or rectangles with a hole in the center.
3. Finally the dried sheet is sprayed with titanium dioxide (white pigment) or similar pigmented material so that they can be used as decoupage papers (involves gluing an image with wallpaper glue on top of the mica paper).
4. Because mica paper is food safe it can also be used as backing under mosaics or decoration on chocolates; however, it cannot be glued directly to food since water would dissolve starch binder and turn it into a sticky mess.
Mica tape paper is available in the following forms:
1. Sheets: It is cut into rounds and squares and can be used as windows for picture frame glass, for decoupage work and even just to add a little extra shine on some surfaces such as lamp bases or on metal jewelry boxes.
2. Decals: These are adhesive backed paper which gives an appearance of shingles on roofs etc. They can be glued on walls, wood furniture, interior doors, and more to give the house an instant facelift without having to repaint/refinish it.
3. Tiles: these look like mini mosaic tiles which can be rigidly installed in place for waterproof applications such as bathroom walls or can be used as table coasters.
4. Glitter Sheets: The glitter sheets are self-adhesive and look like metallized decals, giving your projects an extraordinary shiny appearance without having to resort to metallic paint which is more difficult to use than the mica paper itself.
5. Grids: These are standard patterned grids of squares or circles with different sizes available for use as picture frames backing, mosaic tiles, general decoration purposes etc.
6. Mosaic Tiles: single cut mosaics which range in size from approximately 10 x 10 cm up to 50 x 50 cm depending on the quality level of the product manufactured from them (there are 4 quality levels). They come in a variety of mica tape color。