What’s the difference between frosted TPU tape and matte tape?

TPU tape is popular to knitwear manufacturers for shaping. Those who have some understanding of TPU tape may know that there are two main kinds of TPU tape. The one owns more elasticity and owns frosted appearance. On contrast, the other one has less elasticity and owns more smooth surface, which can be clear transparent or matte. Then what’s the difference between frosted TPU tape and the matte one?

Besides elasticity, these two kinds of TPU tape have other differences. Firstly, there are some dull polish granules on frosted TPU tape. The particles make the tape become a little bit rough. And it’s also the reason why the tape is frosted. When comes to transmissivity, it refers to the raw material and processing technology. For example, frosted TPU tape made of good quality TPU raw material owns better transmissivity. At the same time, the performance will also be better. In addition, the temperature of extrusion machine will also affect the transmissivity of TPU tape. The higher the temperature is, the better the transmissivity. Of course, too high temperature will melt the tape.

However, matte TPU tape is smooth and not as rough as frosted one. The most important reason is there are no dull polish granules on tape, which leads to the less elasticity of matte TPU tape. But there comes another point. Neither clear transparent TPU tape nor the matte tape has no particles, why they have different extension? It is also because of the temperature. According to the feature of TPU material, high temperature can help it stimulate the best property. Therefore, TPU tape is produced by high temperature extrusion technology. Without dull polish granules, we can get clear transparent tape. But if customers require matte appearance, manufacturers will control the machine temperature to make the tape be matte. In another word, the matte TPU tape is the result that TPU material doesn’t stimulate its best performance. So the matte TPU tape will have a little bit less elasticity than clear transparent one.

Since the difference above, frosted TPU tape and the matte tape usually have different usage. Frosted tape is generally used for knitwear shaping and sewed at shoulder parts of T-shirts. But matte TPU tape is usually used for bra straps or shoe straps.