We have all seen it. You walk through the warehouse in the dead of winter, and the tape on your boxes is popping loose, curling up like a dead leaf. Or, you walk through in the heat of July, and the tape is sliding off the cardboard, leaving a sticky, gooey mess behind.
Your packers didn't suddenly forget how to tape a box. The laws of physics just changed on them.
Adhesive tape is not a static solid; it is a viscoelastic material. This means it has properties of both a liquid (it flows) and a solid (it resists). When the temperature swings in your facility, that balance is thrown off.
Here is the "Tape Mechanics 101" guide to why this happens—and the specific IPG solutions engineered to beat the thermometer.
In cold environments (freezers, unheated docks in January), adhesives suffer from a phenomenon called Glass Transition.
As the temperature drops, the adhesive molecules stop moving freely. They transition from a rubbery, sticky state to a "glassy," rigid state. When the adhesive becomes rigid, it loses its ability to "wet out"—meaning it can’t flow into the microscopic fibers of the corrugated box to create a mechanical lock. It sits on top of the box like a piece of plastic, and eventually, it just falls off.
The Solution:
You need an adhesive with a lower glass transition temperature, chemically designed to remain soft and tacky even below freezing.
The Hero Product: IPG 7151QT (Cold Temp Hot Melt).
Most hot melt tapes fail in the cold. IPG’s "QT" (Quick Tack) series is specially formulated for the dairy, meat, and frozen food industries. It maintains its "liquid" properties down to 35°F application temps and holds its seal down to -40°F.
The Heavy Hitter: Central® Brand Natural Rubber Tapes (500 Series).
Natural rubber has an aggressively low freezing point and bites into "difficult" cartons (like highly recycled corrugated) that cold acrylics might struggle with.
In a hot warehouse (100°F+ in summer shipping containers), the opposite problem occurs. The adhesive becomes too liquid.
While it feels very sticky to the touch, the internal strength of the adhesive (Cohesion) breaks down. This leads to Shear Failure—where the tape slides across the box surface under the tension of the flaps. This is why you see "flagging" (tape lifting at the edges) or boxes that have popped open during transit in a hot truck.
The Solution:
You need an adhesive that resists oxidation and maintains high shear strength when heated.
If you are using the same roll of generic tape for your blast freezer and your loading dock, you are losing money on repacking and damaged goods.
Don't fight physics.
Let us help you match the adhesive chemistry to your environment.