Is duct tape sun resistant? All specific features

Is duct tape sun resistant? There are people who aren’t familiar with American tape, who do not have a roll of it in their toolbox, and therefore never consider this precious ally for their emergency repairs.

And there are many people who always have a roll of double-sided adhesive tape on hand and, when they see something broken or damaged, always think about the potential of this particularly resistant tape.

The first group is certainly in the wrong, as they neglect the potential of reinforced double-sided tape which has, over the decades, been used not only in the home, but also at a professional, industrial, and military level, reaching even space.

In fact, if duct tape is supplied to the American army for makeshift repairs of vehicles and weapons, it should not be forgotten either that, for decades, it was a fundamental equipment during NASA missions, even being used to fix a lunar rover.

But beware: you should not believe that classic duct tape does not present any threats that could reduce its performance.

What is duct tape? The specific features of this tape

First of all, it must be noted that duct tape is about eighty years old.

It was, in fact, developed in the middle of World War II at the explicit request of the American army, which had taken up the suggestion given by a worker (the mother of two boys enlisted in the US Navy) through a letter addressed to then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Duct tape was created as a union between two different pre-existing tools. On the one hand, strong double-sided tape, which had been invented and developed twenty years before by 3M; on the other, duck cloth, i.e., strips of non-adhesive fabric that were used to carry out repairs and to reinforce pipes, clothing, shoes, and so on.

Classic cloth tape, then, is made up by a lower layer of industrial double-sided adhesive, typically made with extremely powerful adhesives.

The middle layer consists, instead, of a strip of cloth with wide webbing, which offers great resistance and, at the same time, the ability to tear and cut pieces of tape using only your hands, without the need for scissors or dispensers, making the tape immediately usable (which is not surprising, having been designed to be used in the military).

Finally, the third layer consists of a coating that makes the tape waterproof. That being said, let’s consider to the main question: is duct tape sun resistant?

Is duct tape sun resistant?

One might wonder if the cloth tape is able to withstand the sun for a long time in case you have to do an outdoors repair job.

As it is well known, UV rays can be a threat for many things: for our skin, for plants, for plastic objects, for our smartphones, and so on. It is therefore fair to question whether duct tape can withstand UV rays for a long time.

Well, it is possible to say without any fear of exaggerating, that common cloth tape can be used for makeshift outdoor repairs, exposed to sunlight, without any issues; Some problems may arise when that repair needs to last for a long time, for weeks or months.

In this case, the sun’s rays could end up breaking the adhesive bond of the duct tape. Therefore, those who want to use cloth tape for long-lasting applications under the sun should make sure to buy the UV resistant kind.

What could threaten the performance of duct tape?

There are some cases where it is best to keep in mind that cloth tape cannot last very long.

For example, on repair jobs carried out on very hot surfaces: for instance, duct tape used to fix pipes meat to house a flow of air or hot water.

In this case, the tape’s sealing strength may decrease over time, up to the point of needing a new repair.

And again, adhesive tape cannot work on a wet surface: it is always necessary to clean and dry the area where it will be applied.

Being finished with a waterproof layer, duct tape can withstand splashes of water with no issues, but it cannot be used safely on objects that are regularly immersed in water.

It should also be noted that industrial double-sided tape is also effective on uneven and very rough surfaces, but that in these cases it cannot have the same strength shown on smooth surfaces.

Think, for example, of an extremely rough plastered wall: the adhesive tape would end up adhering