Self fusing silicone tape

[R]

I just discovered this stuff.  Widely available, under a variety of brands (and prices!), also known as self amalgamating silicone tape.

Does anybody know if this will bond with the silicone coating on waterproof fabrics?

I’ve only seen it in 20mil thickness x 1″ wide, which is about 3x heavier than seam sealer.  If it works, and can be found thinner and narrower, this could be an awesome diy seam tape.

 

[Roger Caffin]

INTERESTING!

But I don’t know whether it will bond with silnylon, or just with itself.

Cheers

[Pierre Descoteaux]

I tried this afternoon with some leftover silnylon and self fusing silicone tape I use to wrap the handles of my ice tools. No luck! It fuses very quickly to itself but not with the silnylon.

[Roger Caffin]

Thanks Pierre. That is what I suspected would happen.
OK, so side A can bond to side B, which is what you get when wrapping it around a handle for instance.

But can side A bond to side A? (Or side B to side B?)
I ask because it is possible that the two sides are chemically different, so they can react with each other for bonding.

Cheers

[John Vance]

It’s heavy but I have used it to cover torn CV joint boots, seal leaking pipes, and make insulating handles.   Cool stuff!

I haven’t seen very thin versions available, mostly just different widths with the thickness increasing with width.  I found a 4” width roll at the thrift store and I made some cups out of it as well as using it to wrap the handles of some of my tools.  It pretty much just adheres to itself – at least that’s been my experience.

[Mark Ries]

Gear aid is now making silnylon repair patches that are said to be a permanent patch so maybe a tape will be on the way.  I just ordered some today

[Roger Caffin]

Tear-Aid have what seem to be very good adhesive patches and tape for NON-silnylon fabrics. As stretchy as the fabric. NOT properly tested yet.
However, these are NOT for silicone surfaces. PU is OK.

Cheers

[William Chilton]

Tear-Aid have what seem to be very good adhesive patches and tape for NON-silnylon fabrics. As stretchy as the fabric. NOT properly tested yet.
However, these are NOT for silicone surfaces. PU is OK.

I believe that Mark is referring to this, which certainly claims to stick to silnylon.

[Roger Caffin]

Ah, OK.
Some good stuff there at the bottom of the page too.

But no-one delivers to Australia.

Cheers

[Nick Gatel]

But no-one delivers to Australia.

Maybe they will. Did you check http://www.amazon.com.au  instead?

 

[William Chilton]

Maybe they will. Did you check http://www.amazon.com.au  instead?

Indeed they do…

[Roger Caffin]

I live and learn.
Our local hardware chain (Bunnings) has at lest 3 brands of self-fusing silicone tape. In fact, I even have something similar in stock myself (but maybe not silicone-based?).

However, looking at the specs for the local stuff: these are not adhesive tapes per se. You have to stretch them to double their original length before wrapping them around something. The stretch disrupts the surface chemistry and exposes free silicone bonds, which can then fuse to each other. No side A & B at all.

Useful stuff, but not for sealing seams.

Now, the stuff William has pointed to is actually the Gear-Aid patches. Hum …. Interesting.

Cheers

[Mark Ries]

And that is what I ordered just yesterday AM from Judy at Light Heart Gear along with her tent repair kit. Funny what happens when you go shopping I was only looking for new zipper sliders, I must have been hungry! Anyway has anybody used the gear aid silnylon patches? I’m happy to find a quick repair for silnylon I’ve had plenty of experience using tenasious tape

[Mark Ries]

^ but of course not on silnylon

[Eric Blanche]

It’s been discussed before that siloxane tape is the acceptable tape for silnylon. I don’t know much about siloxane adhesives and to my understanding it is quite difficult/expensive to procure. Roger, care to expand on this?

It’s nice to see a commercially available option (at least for patches) and hope maybe this will spark easier and cheaper ways to find a transfer tape that works for both sealing and bonding.

[Roger Caffin]

Yes, siloxane adhesive is what is needed, although ‘they’ may dummy the name down as it becomes more popular.
And as it becomes more popular, the price comes down. I THINK it is still more expensive than normal tapes and adhesives, but probably not 2x. That is in fact a small price for the benefits of being able to do the repairs. The good stuff does make a very good repair too.

Cheers

[R]

Not surprised the self fusing only bonds to itself.  Great to see it tested out!

McMaster-Carr offers the self fusing silicone tape down to 10mil/0.25″.

3M has a product line they describe as ‘silicone laminating adhesive tape’, which is specifically formulated to adhere to silicone.  Appears to be all double sided.  Not sure about sellers or price.  This could be what Gear Aid uses in their product.

[Roger Caffin]

I suspect that Gear-Aid are using what is called a ‘Transfer Tape’: a single layer of adhesive with NO carrier. That is what I use as well.

Cheers

[Monte Masterson]

Somewhat related to this thread, I see that Trekkertent claims the tieout reinforcements on their sil shelters are bonded and not sewn. anybody know what they’re using to get such strong adhesion?

http://www.trekkertent.com/home/content/4-about-us

 

[Roger Caffin]

I do not KNOW what they are using, but my experience has been that well-cured siloxane adhesive or transfer tape over an adequate area would handle that.

That said, I still sew at the periphery as soon as I have done the lamination, before the siloxane has cured. :)

Cheers

[Axel J]

I originally purchased this product several years ago to wrap the handle on our All Clad kitchen pot lids. That worked well so I did my Snow Peak titanium cup handles as well. It helps to cut the tape into narrower strips to wrap small diameter objects.

[R]

The 3M line has both double sided with a carrier in the middle, as well as single layer transfer tape.

 

[Marc Penansky]

Mark,

We tested the Gear-Aid Tenacious Tape Sil-Nylon patches when we first got them a few months ago.  They adhere extremely well to both our sil-nylon and sil-poly – I must admit I was surprised how well they worked.  I had encourage Gear-Aid to pursue this for several years and they obviously listened and did a great job.  We went out to Washington to try to get samples from the headquarters last year when they advised us they had successfully produced them but they didn’t have them available there.  So we finally got them in early this year.

Marc Penansky

LightHeart Gear

 

[Mark Ries]

Thanks Marc I’ve always wondered how one would repair silnylon in the field

[Author]

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