Variation in duct tape products over time: Physical measurements and adhesive compositional analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Four commonly available duct tape products manufactured and sold in North America were analyzed both physically and chemically to determine if parameters such as scrim count, width, thickness (overall and backing/film), or adhesive composition vary for a single product manufactured over a span of several months. Chemical composition of the adhesive was determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In a previous study, these same products were analyzed to evaluate the intra-roll and intra-jumbo roll differences observed over the lengths and widths of duct tape rolls produced at single points in time, and minimal variation was noted in the recorded features. For this study, wider variation in some parameters was observed between jumbo rolls of the same product manufactured over time. While the means were found to differ in some limited instances, frequently the individual replicates/samples overlapped. Therefore, the intra-product population differences, even when statistically significant, were typically not considered a reliable basis for discrimination of individual samples.