Talk:Kapton

Kapton in Avionics
Added a paragraph about the history of Kapton use in avionics. This is common knowledge among avionics technicians. Maybe someone can find an authoritative reference for this as well. --Miikka Raninen 12:21, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Kapton - Other Uses
It is used as a tape for securing wire harnesses in Apple Macintosh PowerBooks. It may also be used in ribbon wires. Someone please expand on that, as that subject is what brought me here. As the article states, I notice that Kapton is subject to wear due to abrasion. What appear to be Kapton trackpad ribbon wires in my Titanium Powerbook, have worn to the point of shorting (after 5 years of heavy use.) These ribbon wires are also brittle, though I don't know if that is due to Kapton or to other characteristics of the ribbon wire. - Chris Murphy 09:05, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

You probably have Kapton backed wiring in your printer and camera as well - it's generally used for flexible printed circuits, it's not an Apple specific design. Kapton is very flexible for domestic use - the conductive tracks are far more brittle than the Kapton substrate.


 * The brittle wires are copper 'traces' and being a metal, can work-harden over time with a lot of flexing. Regular wires do the same thing. The kapton, which is simply and insulator and a means to support these traces, can become brittle after exposure to very high temperatures. There are many grades of kapton, (most of them not true 'kapton' since that is a trade name) and some lower grades can degrade much faster at lower temperatures. Flex circuits have been in use for many, many years; Compaq used them in their 386 "lunchbox' portable of the late 1980s and numerous models after that. Ken (talk) 14:16, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

It's not just specific to PowerBooks, Kapton tape is in many different portable electronics, including many laptops and nearly every model of cell phone. --173.23.97.20 (talk) 15:14, 12 May 2010 (UTC)


 * For what it's worth, many watchmaking and jewelry companies use Kapton tape as a mask during metal finishing with abrasives, so that an assembled part can have both a satin finish and high polished finish next to each other. The Cartier Santos wristwatch is one of the most apparent that comes to mind, as it's standard bracelet is composed of multiple brushed stainless steel rectangle links, each with two high polished "false" flathead screws pressed into it (traditionally gold on a two-tone bracelet). The refinishing procedure is to highly polish the entire bracelet, clean it well in ultrasonic, and then apply circular Kapton "stickers" on top of the screw heads, and then apply a light brushed finish to the stainless steel. The Kapton tape protects soft gold from the abrasive that is capable of scoring the stainless steel.


 * There are a ton of other uses for it, and we mostly refer to it as the product name "ProTape"


 * 166.70.27.129 (talk) 23:01, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

One related use is electrical insulation in small transformers with multiple windings on a bobbin, when simple wire enamel is not sufficient. The design rule of thumb, to account for microscopic pinholes in the film, is to use at least 2 layers and not count one layer when estimating insulation strength between windings. AJim (talk) 19:10, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

References?
The way in which Polyimide Pressure Sensitive Tape is Crafted? Polyimide pressure delicate adhesive (PSA) tape is in fact produced up of two separate actions. The very first will be the manufacture in the Polyimide film tape, itself (the generic name of DuPont’s trade name Kapton®), along with the second is applying an adhesive backing based on the meant application. Polyimide Tape is produced up of two separate actions. First is the manufacture of the polyimide film itself and the second is the application of the adhesive backing.Tp learn more about Kapton Tape or Polyimide tape. There is a Great blog full of info for Polyimide tape and how its made

merger
since kapton is a specific type of polyimide. on the other hand, this article is at least as good, if not better, then the polyimide article, so it could go either way Also propose merging ultem into polyimide Cinnamon colbert (talk) 03:56, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Unclear
The language is a bit unclear, and leads more to questions than answers. What does: "the only material to ignite insulation blankets" mean? I suppose that kapton is the burnable part of the blanket, but if not I suppose there are more sources of heat to ignite a (what kind of?) blanket. And "dry arc-track at 10,000 °C" - is that good or bad? Are electrical flames hotter with kapton insulation? Or is it a good thing and is kapton resistant up to that temp? 217.19.29.156 (talk) 10:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

So as not to introduce another "Unclear" section: The section of the article: 3D Printing is in itself unclear: Because Kapton adheres so well to ABS and thereby prevents ABS parts from warping, it is commonly used in 3D printers for covering the surface of a heated build platform. 1. Kapton doesn't adhere to ABS; the adhesive adheres. This is a property of the adhesive chosen, not of Kapton. 2. Why does "adhering to ABS" prevent warping of the ABS since Kapton is (per the statement) covering the platform (which isn't ABS)? Is the Kapton applied 'adhesive side up' to stick the material being printed? 3. The covering of the heated platform with Kapton is more likely due to the heat resistance of the Kapton (and the adhesive). It generally makes clean up easier.

I'm not going to edit the sentence if someone can clarify this for me. But as is it makes no sense at all. TIA Ken (talk) 16:22, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Apollo
I added a paragraph on kapton use in Apollo. Further details and references would be good! Mjvinson (talk) 19:31, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Kapton use in flexible printed circuits?
For which reasons is Kapton used in (flexible) printed circuits? --Abdull (talk) 19:13, 19 December 2010 (UTC)


 * because kapton is

-flexible at the temperature ranges the circuit is normally exposed to, -has good dielectric/insulating properties, -has good mechanical propeties, and -is fairly easy to work with in the board manufacturing processes (fab and stuffing) Ken (talk) 20:08, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

When was it developed?
It's a good question and why I came to this article in the first place. Traumatic (talk) 18:53, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

Usage.
I'm confused by the first sentence in this section.

"The thermal conductivity of Kapton at temperatures from 0.5 to 5 kelvin is rather high for such low temperatures, κ = 4.638×10−3 T0.5678 W·m−1·K−1.[3] This, together with its good dielectric qualities and its availability as thin sheets have made it a favorite material in cryogenics, as it provides electrical insulation at low thermal gradients.".

Is Kapton a thermal insulator or a thermal conductor? The value K = 4.638x10-3 W·m−1·K−1 is a rather small number. This is less than the thermal conductivity for rubber K= .16 to 0.255 W·m−1·K−1, which definitely a thermal and electrical insulator.

While the thermal conductivity for Kapton at .5 to 5 kelvin might be high for that temperature, is it not still low and still a relative thermal insulator? Also Kapton is used for electrical insulation of electrical wires.

Most materials that are good or poor electrical conductors are also likewise good or poor thermal conductors, but I suppose not always. There are also many coatings used on Kapton such as aluminum, etc., that might change the electrical or thermal conductivity or both.

Or is there a typo in the sentence? Could it possibly have been intended to say "The thermal conductivity of Kapton at temperatures from 0.5 to 5 kelvin is rather low for such low temperatures" ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcrodgers2 (talk • contribs) 21:32, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

Unexpected chemical stability
As a non-chemist I can't understand how something with so many double bonds should be so ridiculously stable over such a wide temperature range. I'd assume double bonds/rings would want to break, which after all would be energetically more favourable, but over a range of nearly 700 C they don't...? 78.146.83.112 (talk) 23:13, 10 January 2024 (UTC)