Practical and versatile: adhesive labels

Essentially, adhesive labels consist of three components:

• the backing paper
• the printing
• the adhesive layer

All three components can be selected to optimise the labels for their intended use. This results in a high degree of versatility in the labels, which can optimally identify each product.

The backing paper

The backing paper is the intermediate layer between the print and the adhesive layer. It practically carries both layers, hence its name. The backing paper can be selected and configured exactly to the customer's needs:

• Inexpensive and quick to print
• Structure printing
• Water soluble or waterproof
• Advanced features
• Tensile strength
• And much more

The way the label can be used is determined by the pre-selection of the backing paper. If it is only a matter of quickly labelling a product and meta data, simple paper labels with thermal printing are sufficient. However, if the adhesive label is to be used as a permanent warning sign on a machine, it must be of a very high quality.

The possibilities offered by structured printing are also of interest. This means that adhesive labels can also have haptic features, such as Braille dots, to make them readable for the blind. The possibilities are as diverse as they are practically unlimited.

Printing

The printing on the backing paper contains the visual signals and information that are to be communicated with the adhesive label. The range of options here extends from simple thermal printing to aesthetic four-colour printing and extremely elaborate printing such as watermarks or holograms. As long as it is only a matter of simple information transfer, thermal or single-colour labels are usually sufficient. They are common and sufficient for barcodes, price labelling or other standard solutions.

Multi-coloured adhesive labels are used for brand communication and are the standard in the beverage industry, for example. They are used to label drinking bottles and have an extremely important function for marketing. Special prints such as watermarks or holograms are used primarily for security reasons. They help with theft protection or warranty claims. They are used, for example, to seal housings against unauthorised opening.

One- and four-colour labels can also be designed and produced with home inkjet printers. For large print runs, it is advisable to use a printing service provider that can provide screen or laser printing at attractive prices. Special labels such as holograms or watermarks can only be produced on special machines. This helps to prevent counterfeiting.

The adhesive layer

Although the adhesive layer has a very specific function, the label industry also offers numerous solutions in this area. The result is relatively digital: a label either sticks well or it sticks badly. Whereby ‘badly’ in this sense can also be a desired state: the easy removability of a label is not only a customer requirement in many areas, it also makes perfect sense.

Conversely, there are also labels that can only be removed from the surface with great difficulty. Any visitor to Austria can confirm this by trying to remove the motorway vignette from the windscreen without leaving any residue. The choice of adhesive layer can also be used to regulate security functions and warranty claims: a warning label should not be removable or should only be removable with great difficulty.

A seal on a package reveals, through its destruction, that it has been opened without authorisation. Conversely, what would modern office life be without the super-easy-to-detach Post-Its? These small, practical yellow stickers are practically indispensable in offices. The core of their success lies in their ‘poor’ adhesive performance – which is highly welcome in their case.

In addition to the adhesive strength, the ‘stickability’ of a surface also plays a major role in the choice of adhesive layer. Therefore, there is no single adhesive that can be used for all adhesive labels. An adhesive for a label on clothing is a good example: on the one hand, the adhesive must hold the label firmly enough on the textile. On the other hand, the label must be removable and the adhesive washable. In this case, a rubber adhesive is usually used that can be removed without leaving any residue.