Polyimide Labels

Polyimides were brought into production back in the 1950, and Polyimide Labels have been widely used in the electronics, aerospace and other industries for some time. Probably the most common polyimide material used for labeling applications is Dupont’s Kapton.

What are Polyimide Labels?

Kapton Polyimide film that is used for making labels is very well suited for the demands of the electronics industry. The film is known for its thermal stability, resistance to high temperatures and flexibility.

In a polyimide label, the Kapton film is just one layer of the laminate that makes up the label. Other layers include the backing liner, the silicon release material, the polyimide and the printable topcoat.

The polyimide film layer is almost always the orange of the base film so a polyimide label can usually be identified as such by peeling it from the liner and looking at the underside of the label.

Of course, while the polyimide Kapton film is important for its properties, it is also critical that the adhesive and topcoat layers are suitable for the applications as well.

Why are Polyimide Labels used?

Polyimide labels are used in the electronics industry because of their stability and good heat and chemical resistant properties.

This means that for companies wanting complete traceability, barcode labels can be applied to products at the beginning of the production process, with confidence that the label (and the data printed onto it) will still be in good shape after going through the manufacturing processes.

This means surviving temperatures up to 250°C for prolonged periods as well as the solvents used in cleaning the parts – often these solvents are delivered under high pressure so the label topcoat needs to be bonded to the polyimide layer in a way that it does not start to delaminate.
Because of the excellent thermal stability of polyimide labels, the barcodes printed on the label do not distort, even under the worst temperature changes.

ID Technology Polyimide Labels

Polyimide labels from ID Technology have evolved over many years to provide the performance our customers need at competitive pricing. Well proven in lead-free manufacturing environments, many of the ID Technology labels have been specially developed to use with today’s high-resolution thermal transfer printers and meet UL and MIL-STD requirements.

Call us at (817)626-7779 to learn how we can help make your labeling operations better! You can also download our free eBook on Labeling for Electronics.