Winco ID Flame Retardant Labels

Let’s face it, electronic products can get hot in use, and if something goes wrong, can overheat. Think of all the stories of Sony laptop batteries and various cellphone brands bursting into flames.

So what has this to do with labels? Clearly, if an electronic component is likely to generate high temperatures, it does not make sense to have combustible materials in the area. Because there are usually product ID labels applied to the circuit boards of electronic products, making the labels from a flame retardant material is a very good idea.

Traditionally, flame retardant labels have been made from Tedlar, a polyvinyl fluoride film from DuPont. Unfortunately, this material has been in very short supply for some time, leading to really long lead times for converted Tedlar labels and many label companies being unable to provide the material at all. Incidentally, Tedlar film is also used in the photovoltaic industry in the manufacture of solar cells, where supply issues are also a problem.

Of course, a shortage of a key component often leads to the development of alternatives and here at Winco ID we can already offer a high quality flame retardant label solution based on Kapton Polyimide film.

WincoID’s 1 mil white Kapton polyimide, halogen free label has been designed and tested to meet the difficult VTM-0 level of flame retardants per the UL94 standard. It complies with the requirements of RoHS and REACH, and is certified to be halogen free to the IEC 61249-2-21 levels.

Applications for this label material include:

• Battery labels where flame, chemical and high temperature exposure may result.
• Tracking labels for mobile hand-held devices.
• Electronic product identification labels.
• UL rating label for an electronic device.
• High temperature label applications where dimensional stability is critical.
• Small label applications that require high resolution printing.
• IC labeling for work in process, permanent ID & warranty labeling.
• Product ID, asset tracking.
• Anywhere a label will be exposed to extreme temperatures.
• Low profile label applications where label thickness is an issue.

Since the labels are based on our Kapton film, they have the usual heat and chemical resistant characteristics one would expect.

We plan to expand our range of flame retardant label products in the near future as well, so that  we can provide additional types of solutions.

So if you are struggling getting hold of Tedlar labels or have any label application where heat, chemical  and flame resistance is important give us a call at 603-598-1553. We’ll be happy to help.