What, Why and How Do We Measure Substrate Properties? Part 6

In this installment, I think I will tackle “adhesion” testing. There are many adhesion tests, such as the T-peel test (ASTM D1876) and the AIMCAL TP-105-92 for metallized films. Many tests can be found in the testing standards for many products and end uses, perhaps specifically for your substrate and end use. In large part, this is – in my estimation – because the “adhesion” test in most cases is subjective or, perhaps better, sample-specific. The tests have value, of course, but not in the way many think they do. Seldom are standardized “adhesion” tests numerical values and thus predictive for new product performance in specific applications. There is a longer discussion of this in the AIMCAL Metallizing Technical Reference [1]. The tests are, however, very valuable for in-house quality control, product development and process studies, and developing correlations between substrate and lamination results.