What is Die Cut Materials? 

1. Die Cut Materials Knowledge:

● Surface coating: Surface coating (inkjet), thermal transfer coating, dot matrix coating, laser toning imaging coating, high-light coating, matte coating

● Surface material: paper, acetate fiber, polyester, polyolefin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyimide, acrylate, aluminum film, reflective film adhesive: omitted

● Release coating: -

● Release paper: high density kraft paper, PE coated kraft paper, clay coated kraft paper, film release paper

2. Die-cutting raw materials details:

High temperature insulation: Polyimide (PI) tape (film), polyester (PET) tape (film), glass fiber tape, Teflon (PTFE) tape (film), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) tape (film), PP film, flame retardant express bus paper, blue (red) shell paper, PB paper, NOMEX paper, Cloud Master paper, hard and soft mica sheet, polyarylsulfone woven paper - polyimide film composite material (SHS), polyarylwoven paper - polyimide film composite material (NHN), polyurethane foam flame retardant (flame retardant), etc.

Buffer absorption: PORON foam, INOA C foam, ServteK foam, PE, IXPE, EPE, CR, EPDM, absorbent foam, PE foam, etc.

Conductive shielding: conductive cloth foam, copper foil, aluminum foil, absorbing materials, etc.

Adhesive fixing class: 3M, TESA, NITTO, SOKEN, SONY, SEKISUI, DIC, etc.

All kinds of special single (double) adhesive: PE foam double-sided tape, VHB double-sided tape, conductive double-sided tape and die-cut products.

Surface protection: high and low viscosity and self-adhesive protective film in high purification PET (scratch proof type). Anti-glare type. Wash type. Self-taking type), PE protective film series.

Release paper: PE coated silicone oil paper, kraft paper silicone oil series; PET, PE electrostatic series; PET fluorin film, etc.

Anti-slip aid: rubber, polyurethane mat, PU flannelette; FPET, Teflon (PTFE) slide aid, etc.

Absorbent anti-counterfeiting category: wool felt, absorbent paper, absorbent sponge, water diffusion anti-counterfeiting stickers, etc.

Dustproof and waterproof: non-woven fabric, metal mesh, nylon fiber acoustic gauze; Waterproof gauze, etc.

Insulation and flame retardant: PP sheet flame retardant (flame retardant), PC sheet flame retardant (flame retardant), PET sheet (flame retardant), fast bus sheet.

3. The commonly materials

Adhesive Series:

Electronic tape, medical tape, 3M based double-sided tape, such as: 9471,9009,9448,55256 and so on. Tesa-based gum, such as: 4972,51928,68634, etc. Gum based on NITTO, such as: 5302A, 5713,5000 NS, etc. General glue is divided into organic glue and inorganic two categories, the above just introduces a variety of rubber production companies of several products, to the United States 3M led by the rubber production company for the world's various industrial products to develop hundreds of kinds of rubber, each type of rubber has its own nature and use.

Double-sided tape, from the existence of the form can be divided into two kinds, one is no substrate, one is a substrate. No substrate is the glue directly coated on the release paper, generally very thin, has a great extension, flexibility, easy to stick back, deformation during die cutting processing. Such as 3M 468, 467. The substrate is coated with glue on both sides of a layer of PET film, cotton paper or nonwoven fabric.

PET substrate products are easier to process, cotton paper and non-woven fabric substrate processing difficulty is higher, the edge is easy to see hair, easy to deform, poor elasticity. There are two kinds of adhesive system classification I am currently in contact with, one is acrylic adhesive, which is widely used to bond hardware, plastic, glass and other materials with high surface strength. One is silicone rubber, which can be directly bonded with rubber and silicone materials without additional treatment.

The object of different applications of the rubber system is also different, and the current market application makes the adhesive paper into one side of acrylic glue and the other side of silicone rubber, so that you can stick to the PC side of the silicone key. Such as: 3M 9731 Yongyou YT156 four-dimensional HDT TDS15\RHTTDS25 and so on. If you use acrylic glue to glue the silicone key, you need to use a special potion to treat the silicone key material, change its surface strength and then glue.

The materials produced by various companies also have their own classification methods, such as 3M company: 300LE, 200MP, etc., which should be their own company to distinguish the glue system, other companies are not necessarily the same.

 Paper Series:

Paper is one of the indispensable materials in the die cutting production process, it can effectively cover the separated double-sided tape, so that the mold will not be glued at the same time, and can not be produced. General paper is also divided into two sides, one is rough, one is fine, rough surface stickiness, fine surface stickiness is weak, generally let the weak sticky surface contact glue, can effectively control the glue class.

Release paper is divided into: coated paper and non-coated paper according to whether or not coated paper. Plastic coated paper is divided into: single plastic paper and double plastic paper. Non-coated paper is divided into: Glasin, CCK.

Paper types: G120, G540, 80G single-sided Gresine, beautiful grain paper (a soft paper with adhesive), A550, A770, 74g blue Gresine, etc., all kinds of paper also have different auxiliary uses, to determine according to the design of the product process.

GLASSINE paper (GLASSINE/SCK0) : The base paper is dense and uniform, with good internal strength and light transmission. It is a common material for making bar code labels, non-drying glue, tape or sticky industrial products, especially suitable for rotary and plate die-cutting.

Coated paper (PEK) : kraft paper with PE film, the price is competitive, combining the characteristics of Glassine paper and CCK paper, flat and not easy to deformation, good toughness, punching resistance, can withstand high strength mechanical pressure, is the ideal industrial paper. Suitable for advertising materials, self-adhesive, electronic die-cutting, etc.

The release paper on the original double-sided tape is mostly double-sided release, and the release paper used as an auxiliary material is mostly single-sided release, like the release film, the release paper is also weighted, generally by the material proof material to confirm its release force, but also by experience to test the weight, and then choose.

Some factories produce such as "80G Glassine", and the 80G in its name may not necessarily be its release force, but may be the specification of the paper. Pay attention to discernment and mastery. There is also a release paper, in addition to the coating release agent, the surface is coated with film, this type of release paper is mostly used for bonding and protective film, the density is small and the material is loose, not as crisp as Grassing paper, as an auxiliary material, the edge is easy to burr when the whole break is cut, which is not conducive to waste discharge. The protective film punch type is generally half broken, and the knife mark should not be too deep.

The silicone rubber paper mentioned earlier, the release film used is different from the release film said above, called the fluorine release film. There are also light and heavy points, the price is more expensive, if the silicone rubber paper and the release film coated with silicone oil, it will not release, and it will be peeled for a long time.

On how to choose release film or release paper as a product auxiliary material, first consider the viscosity of double-sided tape to cooperate with it. Sticky adhesive with light release paper, low adhesive adhesive with heavy release paper, products with small adhesive area should be matched with heavy release paper, to avoid the product easily fall off when the die cutting edge waste. Large area of product, easy to use less light release paper. Whether to choose film or paper, according to the actual process needs, or customer needs to decide.

1), the impact of release paper on die cutting

The quality of the release paper is the key to affect the quality of die cutting, and the thickness, flatness, fiber structure and strength of the release paper directly affect the quality of die cutting. At present, the commonly used release paper is divided into two categories, namely opaque release paper and translucent release paper.

The material quantity of opaque release paper pressure sensitive adhesive is generally above 90g/ m2, and it has a certain stiffness, which is suitable for sheet paper printing and web paper printing, and the finished product label is mostly used for manual labeling. The material quantity of transparent release paper pressure sensitive adhesive is generally 60-70g /m2, the release paper fiber has a certain density or tightness, mainly used for web printing, not suitable for sheet paper printing brush, and the finished product label is used for automatic labeling.

The pressure sensitive adhesive material requires the release paper to have good flatness, uniform thickness, consistent overall transmittance, and the greater the density, the better, in order to facilitate the complete die-cutting of the substrate.

 2) opaque release paper

The commonly used opaque release paper is distinguished by color, which can be divided into yellow and white; According to the structure, it can be divided into two kinds: pre-coated PF coating and no PE coating.

PE coating has two purposes: one is to seal the pores on the surface of the paper to make it smooth and flat, and to coat it with silicone oil to reduce the amount of coating, which can reduce the cost; Another effect is to improve the die-cutting characteristics, because the PE coating is equivalent to a layer of slow; The middle pad has certain toughness and elasticity, which can reduce the fracture of the release paper. Practice shows that the fracture resistance of release paper with PE coating is much lower than that of release paper without PE coating.

Because the thick release paper label is mainly used for manual labeling, the quality of die-cutting is not qualified for manual labeling with a certain shadow, such as continuous die-cutting, manual waste will be uncovered together with the label; If the release paper is cut through or cut through half, the operator is also very difficult to unveil.

When the opaque release paper is die-cutting on the flat die-cutting machine, the common fault is that the release paper is broken, so on the basis of ensuring the accuracy of the die-cutting tool and the flat liner, the release paper with good flatness, large fiber tension and uniform thickness should be selected as far as possible to improve the die-cutting quality.

 3). Translucent release paper

Translucent release paper is also called thin release paper, at present, die-cutting pressure-sensitive adhesive materials commonly used Glasin release paper (glass release paper).

Glasin release paper has two indicators that will affect the quality of die cutting: one is the uniformity of thickness and the other is the fiber structure. Among them, the uniform thickness of the release paper is the most important, especially when the die cutting is circular pressing, because the size of the die cutter roll is determined by the thickness of the release paper, if the thickness of the release paper is not uniform, the blade will cut through or not cut the release paper, which brings trouble to the waste discharge process.

The fiber structure of Glasin release paper mainly affects the die cutting speed for circular die cutting, because the fiber strength directly affects the breaking speed of waste discharge, and the faster the speed and the greater the tension, the easier the waste discharge. If the strength of the material itself is large, the die-cutting speed can be increased. However, for the slow flat die-cutting, the fiber structure has little effect on the die-cutting quality.

In addition, the toughness and fracture resistance of the fiber has a very large impact on the quality of die-cutting, and the release paper with good fiber toughness may not be a problem on the equipment with low precision, but if the fiber of the release paper is brittle and poor toughness, it can only be die-cutting on the equipment with high precision and good die-cutting quality, which shows that the equipment accuracy is also one of the factors affecting the quality of die-cutting.

We have encountered such a case: there are two different pressure-sensitive adhesive materials with the same substrate and different release paper, processed at the same time on two label equipment, and the result is die-cutting on the equipment with high precision, and the die-cutting quality of the two materials is normal; And in the equipment with low precision die-cutting, the material with poor toughness of the release paper fiber often has problems and can not be produced normally. This case shows that the quality of die cutting is related to the pressure-sensitive adhesive material itself, and is also related to the accuracy of the equipment.

Silk screen series:

Silk screen is a very dense textile black material, very soft, as comfortable as cloth. Generally divided into waterproof and dustproof types, the model is B090HY, B010, etc., there are some metal mesh and so on.

PET Series:

This material is a plastic product, and also has different two-sided characteristics, strong sticky surface and weak sticky surface. Such as: fluorine plastic release film, 91008, etc. These are transparent materials, and there are transparent tape materials, such as: PP201, PP101, PP001 and so on. Milky PET, such as: 11490, etc. The use of PET is similar to the use of paper, and it is also a material selected according to the product.

Release film:

According to the material, release film is divided into: OPP, PP, PET, PE, PVC, PP synthetic paper and so on.

In PET, PE film coated with a layer of silicone oil (release agent) is the release film, the release film is generally one-sided, the formula of different release strength is not the same, through the instrument test cocoa measured its release degree, such as 15G, 25G to 80G, the smaller the value of the release force is smaller, on the contrary (or: heavy).

The method of manual test is: take the same adhesive paper, divide it into several parts of the same size, take several different release films and glue each other, apply the same pressure, use the hand to carry out the peel test, and carefully feel the size and weight of the tension. The strength of the peel is heavy, and the reverse is light.

Transparent PET film, good temperature resistance, smoothness and strength. It is suitable for packaging of electronic products, medical treatment, self-adhesive labels, toys and high-grade cosmetics.

According to the release surface can be divided into: single side release and double side release. According to the release agent can be divided into: silicone release paper, organic fluorine release paper and other release materials release paper.

According to the stripping force can be divided into: 4-6 grams of ultra-light stripping force, 8-10 grams of light stripping force, 12-20 grams of standard stripping force, 20-30 grams of medium stripping force, 30-35 grams of heavy stripping force, 50-60 grams of overweight stripping force. Classification according to use: production of protective film, laminating die cutting protective film, production tape, laminating die cutting tape.

Foam Series:

A black material as soft as cotton, different product models, foam thickness is not the same, foam is divided into organic cotton and inorganic cotton two kinds. Foam is widely used, mainly used in mobile phones, computers and all electronic products with screens, with shock-proof, shock-absorbing and other practical effects.

Protective Film Series:

This material is widely seen, mainly used for screen protection and shell protection of a material. Such as South Korea big cloud protective film, protective film in addition to the production of products, can also be used as an auxiliary material in production, and a wide range of uses, the price is also very low.

Protective film, I have handled the protective film of its material is PET, PE, PVC, PET protective film is often double layer, the protective film with the release film, good quality, uniform coating, high cleanliness of the adhesive layer, easy to process, there will not be much change after punching. The processing environment should have a high degree of cleanliness.

Such as: 3M76991, 3M 2T01, NITTO RP301 and other protective films. PE material protective film is also like PET protective film double layer, but most of them are single layer, and must be processed with auxiliary material before punching. Such as: NITTO RP6030, R100, etc., should avoid the phenomenon of contraction and epitaxy when fitting. In order to reduce the damage caused by this phenomenon in the product punching, it is recommended to set the small size as the marking direction when typesetting.

The production of protective film is afraid of dirt, and the two are afraid of expansion and contraction, and the former is caused by the production environmental conditions can be improved. The latter has a great relationship with the material, such as PVC material electrostatic protective film, its expansion size can reach 0.4-1mm, die-cut products, pull up will find that the product in a direction of contraction, a direction of extension, and not proportional, how to solve this headache problem, has not yet found a very suitable method. Had to expand according to its characteristics of the knife die size also carried out some scaling.

As for punching PE protective film, the product shrinks after punching. I have often encountered this phenomenon before, but I have tried many methods and found a better way to tell you about it.

Punching PE protective film, the most important is that the film is very key, as long as the control of the tension of the film is small, or the film is twice, and then punching, the size of the product will not shrink seriously.

★ Adhesive tape bonding method

★ Tape operation procedure

1), for the best results, the surface of the material must be clean and dry. It is generally recommended to wipe and clean the surface with a mixture of IPA(Isopropyl Alcohol) and water in a 1:1 ratio on a cloth, and then wait for the surface to dry completely. (Note: Before using IPA, please refer to the recommended items for this solvent).

2), Attach the tape to the surface of the material, and apply an average pressure of about 15psi(1.05kg /cm2) to the roller or other means (scraper) to make it effectively fit.

3), follow the adhesive tape from the point to the line to the surface contact bonding surface. In the way of artificial adhesion, the use of plastic scraper or roller to bond with solid and uniform pressure, should ensure that the pressure has been applied to the adhesive surface, so that the adhesive and the adhesive contact to avoid air coating.

4), remove the tape release paper (if in the previous step, ensure that there is no air between the glue and the paste, and then paste the material that needs to be fitted, the same pressure of 15psi, so that it is effectively fitted, if you want to remove the bubble, it is recommended to increase the pressure, to the limit of the item. Proposed operating conditions are 15psi, 15 seconds.

5), it is recommended that the ideal construction temperature is between 15℃ and 38℃, not less than 10℃.

6), in order to keep the tape to use still has a stable quality, it is recommended that the storage environment is 21℃ and 50% relative humidity.

7). It is recommended that when using tape without substrate, do not contact with the tape when processing the cut shape edge to avoid adhesion.

Cotton series, cotton is divided into two kinds of sponge and foam

This kind of material has a common characteristic, the material is relatively soft compared with some other die-cutting materials, so in the die-cutting process, there will be different degrees of deformation. Whether it is sponges or foam, they are rarely used alone, and are generally used with a layer or multiple layers of glue.

Properties: Foaming rate is calculated according to multiple. The higher the foaming rate, the greater the density and hardness. Some properties of foam, compression ratio, thickness, density, hardness, color and other main characteristics. Compression ratio refers to the maximum proportion of compression. For example, the compression ratio is 95%, which can be understood as that in the die-cutting process, only after the overall compression to 95% of the overall thickness, it will be cut off.

Foam, commonly used foam materials are: PORON, Saint-Gobain, EVA, EPDM, acoustic foam, PU foam and so on

Films series:

The protective film is mainly used in the display screen of electronic products, and it is also used in the packaging. Although the protective film is some of the auxiliary materials of the product, it is also one of the most demanding in the die-cutting materials.

Its main properties are: thickness, transparency, cleanliness. According to his material can be divided into PET substrate, PE substrate and so on. Its die-cutting environment requires a clean room of more than 300,000 to ensure the cleanliness of the die-cutting process. Dirt and dust are the most deadly factors. The size is not easy to master, because the film type of things will have a flexibility, so usually the product will be smaller than the mold size.

Protective film use: can prevent scratches on the surface, contaminated protective film materials are PE, PVC, PET and so on.

 Common protective film problems:

1), No dirt (dust-free workshop production)

2), Expansion problem, can only be adjusted the corresponding size of the mold to solve (protective film extension -- reduce the size, protective film contraction -- enlarge the size)

3), Blur of protective film, that is, opaque (only full inspection/selection)

Metals Series

Metals, like foam, are not used in isolation. The metal mentioned here refers to the metal element, do not unilaterally understand the steel plate, iron plate and other things. Like rubber filled with some rare metals, it also plays a role in radiation protection in electronic products.

When it comes to specific metals, they mainly play a conductive or shielding performance, such as conductive copper, conductive aluminum, conductive foam, conductive sponge, and other materials. This kind of material will attach to the conductive adhesive to complete the conductive property.