Glossary

Term: Abrasion Resistance
Description: The ability of the surface to resist rubbing or other frictional forces without being worn away.

Term: Absolute Humidity
Description: The actual amount of water vapor present in air, usually expressed in grains per cubic foot of volume. See also humidity and relative humidity.

Term: Absorption
Description: Capillary attraction of surfaces to draw off the liquid or adhesive film into the substrate. Inks will also absorb into most paper face stocks.

Term: Accelerated Aging
Description: Procedures for subjecting pressure sensitive label stock to special environmental conditions in order to predict the course of natural aging. We test adhesives with accelerated aging techniques to predict shelf life and long term performance. Most test procedures are based on storage of the sample at elevated temperature conditions at a specific humidity.

Term: Acetate
Description: A transparent film which is more moisture resistant than cellophane. It does not weather well compared to polyesters and vinyls because it has little UV resistance. Normally it is only recommended for indoor applications. Acetate volume has been largely replaced by polystyrene which is much less expensive. Acetate can be used in security applications such as tape as it destructs easily.

Term: Acid Free
Description: A material with a neutral pH. The adhesive or product is neither acidic or alkaline. This is an important property for labels that need to last forever. Acidic materials tend to yellow with age.

Term: Acrylic Adhesives
Description: Adhesives composed of specific synthetic polymers or co-polymers which are inherently pressure sensitive. Generally acrylic adhesives do not offer as high of quick stick properties as rubber or latex based adhesives, but they have better aging characteristics. They have excellent UV resistance. Some are used for repositionable label applications.

Term: Adhesion
Description: The affinity that an adhesive has for the material to which it is applied. Degree of adhesion is usually affected by the chemical nature of the substrate, surface shape and surface conditions of the material to which a label is applied.

Term: Adhesion Build Up
Description: An increase in the peel adhesion value of a pressure sensitive adhesive after application. Acrylic permanent adhesives offer adhesion build up which enables them to be used for some repositionable applications. Adhesion build up in a removable adhesive is not a good property. If adhesion builds up too much, the adhesive will become permanent.

Term: Adhesive
Description: A substance capable of holding materials together by surface attachment.

Term: Adhesive Bleed
Description: Another term for adhesive ooze. In some cases adhesives could bleed so much that they go through the face stock, making it transparent looking. Many rubber based pressure sensitive adhesives will bleed after prolonged contact with a vinyl substrate. This is caused by plasticizer migration through the adhesive. The plasticizer softens the adhesive to a point where it flows through the face stock.

Term: Adhesive Migration
Description: This occurs when the adhesive moves through what seems to be a solid object. Adhesive migration could cause adhesive contamination for the contents of the labeled package.

Term: Adhesive Residue
Description: The remaining adhesive left on substrate after the label is removed. This can be an important factor in end user selection of removable adhesives. On one hand they want the adhesive to stick well enough that it does not flag, but on the other hand they want the adhesive to remove cleanly without adhesive residue.

Term: Adhesive Transfer
Description: The transfer of adhesive from its normal position to the substrate. Most of Technicote pressure sensitive adhesives are coated on the liner. When the liner and face stock are laminated, the adhesive transfers from the liner to the face stock.

Term: Age-Down
Description: An adverse reaction between silicone release liners and adhesive which causes the release values to decrease (become easier) over a short period of time, usually denotes an incompatibility between release and adhesive

Term: Age-Up
Description: An adverse reaction between silicone release liner and adhesive which causes the release values to accelerate (become tighter) over a short period of time, usually denotes an incompatibility between release and adhesive

Term: Aging
Description: The changes that occur to a material with the passage of time.

Term: All Temperature Adhesive
Description: A common designation for a pressure sensitive adhesive designed for application between room temperature and freezing conditions. In spite of its name, it will not apply successfully at all temperatures. Generally all temperature adhesives are only used when application is done at a wide variety of temperatures because they are more expensive than permanent adhesives. See also cold temperature adhesive and freezer adhesive.

Term: Alligatoring
Description: The appearance of an adhesive, coating or sealer film that is cracked into large segments resembling the hide of the alligator. When alligatoring is fine and incomplete, it is usually called checking.

Term: Anchor Coat
Description: Another term for barrier coat.

Term: Anchorage
Description: The specific adhesion of a pressure sensitive adhesive to a face material or to an anchor coat. Without adequate adhesive anchorage, labels could be easily removed and much of the adhesive would stay on the substrate. This can also refer to the degree with which the ink or toner is bonded to the surface.

Term: Ansi
Description: The American National Standards Institute formerly United States of America Standards

Term: Anti-Foam
Description: An additive used to reduce foaming tendencies in adhesives, coatings and sealers applied by roller coating equipment. Bubbles caused by foaming could cause some parts of the surface being coated to have uncoated areas.

Term: Antioxidant
Description: A chemical which is added in small quantities to inhibit or retard breakdown due to oxidation.

Term: Antistatics
Description: Methods of eliminating or reducing static electricity in plastic materials such as film stocks. this is sometimes found necessary to obtain a uniform coating of silicone on a polymer film backing.

Term: Apparent Density
Description: The weight per unit volume of a paper. It is frequently calculated by dividing the basis weight by the caliper. The numerical value depends on the basis weight system used for the paper. As long as basis weight systems are equal, a paper with a lower number would be less dense. Density of the paper will have a big bearing on how large diameter a 2,000 pound roll of paper will be.

Term: Application Temperature
Description: The temperature at which the label is actually applied. Most pressure sensitive adhesives have a range of recommended application temperatures. They will vary depending on the type of adhesive. Most general purpose permanent adhesives are designed for application between room temperature and about 50 degrees F. Cold temperature adhesives may be designed for application at temperatures between room temperature and 35 degrees F. Freezer adhesives may be designed for application between 50 degrees F and -10 degrees F. If application occurs outside the recommended range, the user runs the risk of reduced performance or adhesion failure.

Term: Applicator
Description: A device that automatically feeds and applies pressure sensitive labels to a substrate.

Term: Aqueous
Description: A material that contains water or is water based. In adhesives it refers to the fact that water is used as the adhesive carrier during coating.

Term: Ascii
Description: The character set and code described in American National Standard Code for Information

Term: Ball-Up
Description: A specific term used to describe the tendency of an adhesive to stick to itself. When an adhesive is rolled between the fingers, it can become a small ball.

Term: Band Label
Description: A label that fully wraps around the surface to which it is applied. An example would be sock band labels. Usually there is a slight overlap and the adhesive sticks to itself.

Term: Bar Code
Description: An array of parallel rectangular bars and spaces that together represent a single data element or

Term: Bar Code Density
Description: The number of characters which can be represented in a linear unit of measure. Bar code density is often expressed in characters per inch CPI.

Term: Bar Code Label
Description: A label which carries a bar code and is suitable to be affixed to an article.

Term: Bar Code Reader
Description: A device used to read a bar code symbol.

Term: Barrier Coat
Description: A type of coating that is a primer. It is a coating applied to the face stock on the side opposite the printing surface to provide increased opacity to the face stock. It can also be used to reduce adhesive migration through the face stock and to improve anchorage of the adhesive to the face stock.

Term: Base Line
Description: A reference line used to specify the desired vertical position of characters printed on the same line.

Term: Basis Weight
Description: Basis weight indicates how heavy paper is for a standard size. There are a number of different basis weight systems. Most pressure sensitive label face stocks use a book basis weight. For example, 500 sheets 25 x 38 of a 60# paper will weight 60#. Also the weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to a given size. There are a number of different basis weight systems. The most common are book 25 x 38 * 500, bond 17 x 22 * 500 and kraft 24 x 36 * 500. Most face stocks are on book basis. Bonds and other products for the forms industry is on a bond basis. Release liners and some industrial products are on a kraft basis. Some care is important when quoting to make sure that you are asking for the correct weight. 20# on a bond basis is about equivalent to a 50# on a book basis.

Term: Basis Weight
Description: This measures how heavy 500 sheets 25 x 38 would be.

Term: Bleaching
Description: The chemical process that makes paper lighter in color or higher in brightness.

Term: Bleed
Description: Printing that goes all the way to the edge of the finished label. There are no blank edges.

Term: Bleeding
Description: The migration of plasticizers from the adhesive film into the facestock or substrate to which it has been applied.

Term: Blocking
Description: Adhesion between the sheets or plies of rolls of pressure sensitive labels usually due to adhesive cold flow, improper drying of inks or improper drying and curing of coatings. Blocking can also occur with heat or water sensitive papers. If heat sensitive papers are subjected to excessive heat, the adhesive will activate. One layer will stick to the next. If water sensitive adhesives have too much moisture applied prematurely, they also can block. There are recommendations for storage and processing of both products to reduce blocking.

Term: Bond Basis Weight
Description: This measures how heavy 500 sheets 17 x 22 would be. A common weight is 20#. A 20# paper on this system will weigh the same as a 50# paper figured on the book basis weight system.

Term: Bond Paper
Description: A type of paper frequently used for stationery and business forms.

Term: Bopp
Description: Acronym for biaxially oriented polypropylene.

Term: Bright Laminated Foil
Description: This is a pressure sensitive face stock that is paper laminated foil with a very shiny appearance. It is available in both silver and gold colors. See also paper laminated foil.

Term: Brightness
Description: White papers vary in degree of visual brightness. Measurement is on a numerical scale in which higher numbers indicate a brighter sheet of paper. This should not be confused with the color of the paper. White colors can vary from cream white to a blue white color. Usually blue white color is associated with brightness, but that is not always the case. The Martin Sweets Reflection Dynamometer Meter is one piece of equipment used to measure brightness of paper.

Term: Brittleness
Description: The property of a material which causes it to break or fail when deformed by bending. This is an important property for form companies that manufacture fan folded product. If the perforations at the fan fold were too brittle, the perforation would break. There is a relationship between moisture content of paper and the degree of brittleness. The dryer the paper, the more brittle it will be. To some extent form manufacturers vary the mechanical size of the perforation to try and achieve equal performance of finished product when brittleness varies.

Term: Brookfield Viscosimeter
Description: An instrument for measuring the viscosity of formulated adhesives under standard temperature conditions.

Term: Butt Cut Label
Description: A knife cut label in which the knife cut is made through the face stock, across the full width of the label. Most uses are for hand application of the labels.

Term: C1S
Description: An abbreviation for coated one side. It usually refers to clay coated papers that are only coated on the print side. Since adhesives cover the other side, many clay coated papers we use are C1S. If product was C2S, it would be clay coated on both sides. Typical uses for this type of product would be magazines and brochures.

Term: Calendar
Description: A series of horizontal steel rolls at the dry end of the paper machine which increase the paper’s smoothness, gloss and apparent density.

Term: Caliper
Description: A measure of thickness. Usually caliper is referred to in mil thickness. Each mil is 1/1000. Normally heavier caliper papers will be stiffer. Caliper of roll PS release liners is particularly important because dies are made to cut to a specific depth. If the die cuts too deeply, labels will not be able to be removed from the liner. If it does not cut deeply enough, stripping will be difficult. Caliper can also be the equipment that determines the thickness.

Term: Carrier
Description: Another term for release liner on pressure sensitive papers.

Term: Cast Coated Paper
Description: These are created by bringing the paper in contact with chromium drums. Print surface is exceptionally smooth. Cast coated papers have the highest gloss levels of any clay coated paper. KromeKote is an example of a cast coated paper.

Term: Cast Film
Description: Plastic sheeting manufactured by the casting process, as opposed to the extruded process.

Term: Cast Vinyl
Description: Vinyl sheeting manufactured by coating a liquid vinyl acetate or similar ester onto a casting paper and curing in a heated oven.

Term: Cd
Description: This stands for cross machine direction of the paper. In rolls it would be the width of the roll. In sheets it would be the short grain direction of the sheet.

Term: Cellophane
Description: A transparent film made of regenerated cellulose. It is greaseproof and with suitable coatings can be made moisture proof and heat sealable. It is normally measured by thickness. Cellophane is most commonly a substrate rather than a label face stock.

Term: Cellulose Fiber
Description: Fibrous material remaining after the non-fibrous components of weed have been removed by pulping and bleaching operations.

Term: Centerline
Description: The vertical axis around which character elements are located for letters, numerals, or symbols.

Term: Chemical Curing
Description: The process of setting or curing of an adhesive brought about by the addition of a catalyst or accelerator.

Term: Chemical Resistance
Description: The resistance of a pressure sensitive label to the deteriorating effects resulting from exposure to chemicals under specified conditions.

Term: Chill Roller
Description: A roller kept at a cold temperature. It is used to cool label constructions on which adhesives have been applied at high temperatures. Hot melt pressure sensitive coaters frequently have chill rollers to cool the adhesive.

Term: Clarity
Description: Degree of clearness in a film.

Term: Clark
Description: Equipment used to measure the stiffness of paper. See also stiffness.

Term: Clay Coating
Description: A print coating that provides a very smooth surface. Print quality is higher with clay coated papers than they would be with uncoated papers. Examples of clay coated papers are Semigloss, KromeKote, C1S Litho, C1S Tag, etc.

Term: Clear Coat
Description: A coating that protects the printing and the surface of a pressure sensitive label from abrasion, sunlight, chemicals, moisture, or a combination of these.

Term: Coated Paper
Description: Could have one of two meanings. It could refer to adhesive coating done on paper. It could also refer to clay print coatings done by the paper mill to enhance printing characteristics. The meaning would be determined by the context in which it is used. See also uncoated paper.

Term: Coating Weight
Description: The weight of coating per unit area of a substrate. this is preferably expressed as grams per 100 square inches. Not all adhesive coaters use the same measurement for coat weight.

Term: Coefficient Of Expansion
Description: The fractional change in length of a material for a unit change in temperature.

Term: Co-Extrusions
Description: Film produced by more than one extruder through a common die. films have been made with as many as 13 layers.

Term: Cohesive Strength
Description: The amount of internal strength of the adhesive. Cohesive strength must be greater than the specific adhesion in order to prevent the adhesive from splitting when the label is removed from a surface. Cohesive strength is tested by vertically bonding a label sample to a test bar. A weight is then attached to the sample and the amount of time that elapses before the sample pulls free indicates the amount of sheer strength.

Term: Cold Flow
Description: Another term for adhesive ooze. It represents the degree to which the adhesive continues to flow under normal conditions. Cold flow can increase with application of both heat and pressure.

Term: Cold Glue
Description: A glue that is used in liquid form. It would be the opposite of a hot melt adhesive, or one that needs to be heated when it is used.

Term: Cold Temperature Adhesive
Description: A pressure sensitive adhesive designed for application in refrigerator conditions to a cold substrate. Most cold temperature adhesives will not work in true freezer conditions.

Term: Collating
Description: A means of putting various papers in their proper order. This process is used in the form industry to attach several layers of a multi part form together. Also it would be used during the manufacture of books to insure that the pages are in the proper order.

Term: Color
Description: Both white and colored papers can be described in terms of color. White varies from blue to cream and pink. Colored papers are dyed to a number of hues.

Term: Color Fastness
Description: The permanence of a color during exposure to light. Generally this is a more important characteristic for inks than adhesives unless the adhesives are applied to a transparent face stock. Some rubber based adhesives tend to yellow with age.

Term: Compatibility
Description: Ability of two or more substances to mix or blend without separation.

Term: Condensation
Description: The precipitation of ambient moisture on substrates. Condensation on substrates can adversely affect adhesion because the adhesive sticks to the water, not the intended surface. This can be a common problem in the processed meat industry where application is done at very high humidity and 45 degrees F temperatures. Condensation can also pose problems for water sensitive adhesives. If the water drops onto the adhesive prematurely, it could cause blocking.

Term: Conditioning
Description: The process of subjecting material to the specific temperature and humidity conditions that will be used in production. Sheet fed printers condition material before printing to make sure that it is dimensionally stable and that it does not curl excessively. The amount of time it takes for the product to acclimate will depend on the volume of material and the temperature and humidity difference. The larger volume and the greater the difference, the longer acclimation will take. This would be the opposite of putting sheet goods on a press as soon as they arrived in a cold press during the winter.

Term: Coneg
Description: Regulations controlling lack of heavy metal content in materials

Term: Conformability
Description: The ability of a pressure sensitive material to yield to the contours of a surface.

Term: Construction
Description: A multi-layer laminate of web stocks. usually consisting of a facestock, an adhesive layer, and a siliconized backing.

Term: Consumer Unit
Description: In the UPC standard, a specific package quantity of a specific product offered by a specific manufacturer.

Term: Co-Polymer
Description: Two or more mixed monomers which, when polymerized, yield a complex product having properties different from either simple polymer alone.

Term: Core
Description: The base product on which rolls are wound.

Term: Core Plug
Description: A protective device placed on exposed ends of cores to help prevent the core from crushing during transit.

Term: Corona Treatment
Description: An electrical discharge which is used to raise the critical surface tension of substrates to facilitate good wet-out of applied materials or coatings.

Term: Cover-Up
Description: A label that has an opaque adhesive used to cover other printing. It is more opaque than standard grades to minimize show through of what is below the label. These are frequently used to revise product information on previously printed boxes or labels. They are also used to correct mistakes.

Term: Creep
Description: The movement of a pressure sensitive adhesive on a surface due to its low cohesive strength.

Term: Cross Direction
Description: The direction at right angles to the machine direction in the plane of a sheet of paper (or web).

Term: Cross Perforation
Description: A perforation cut at right angles to the web direction on a form. They usually designate the edge of the form.

Term: CA
Description: Canadian Standards Association. Canadian association similar to Underwriters Laboratories.

Term: Cupping
Description: A slight u-shaped deformation of tape or a roll at right angles to the length which usually appears after unwind tension is relaxed.

Term: Cure
Description: A change in the properties of an adhesive by chemical reaction. Curing can include condensation, polymerization, or vulcanization. Usually it is accomplished by the application of heat and catalysts or heat alone.

Term: Curing Temperature
Description: The temperature at which an adhesive or ink is subjected to curing.

Term: Curing Time
Description: The time required to effect a cure or vulcanization.

Term: Cwt
Description: An abbreviation for hundred weight. It indicates that the material weighs 100 lbs. It is the most common unit of pricing on products sold to the business forms industry. A price of $150/CWT would mean that 100 pounds would cost $150.

Term: Data Identifier
Description: A specified character or string of characters that defines the general category or specific use of the data that follows.

Term: Deckle
Description: A name for straps on the wet end of a paper machine. Usually, however, in the pressure sensitive part of the business it refers to roll widths available from a paper mill.

Term: Delamination
Description: The partial or complete separation of a material into layers in a direction approximately parallel to the surface.

Term: Delayed Action Adhesive
Description: A heat sensitive adhesive than can be heated and later applied with pressure. The adhesive stays tacky for long enough for label application. It is the opposite type of heat sensitive than instantaneous.

Term: Density
Description: The mass or weight per volumetric measure of a material. Also describes the relative amount of memory contained in a radio frequency identification tag. see Bar code density.

Term: Die Cut
Description: The line of severance between a pressure sensitive label and its matrix or adjoining label made by the cutting edge of a die.

Term: Die Cut Label
Description: A pressure sensitive label mounted on a release liner from which the matrix has been removed.

Term: Die Gap
Description: The distance between the metal faces forming the die opening.

Term: Dimensional Stability
Description: The property of a material which relates to the consistency of its dimensions. Paper grows as it picks up moisture and shrinks as it gives up moisture. Different grades can vary in how much they grow and shrink.

Term: Direct Thermal
Description: A type of non impact printing that uses heat to darken printed images. There is a thermal coating that darkens with application of heat. Advantages of this printing method are high resolution, quiet printing and inexpensive printers. The main disadvantage is that the images are not permanent. They tend to fade with time and can darken when contacted with certain liquids. Direct thermal paper is more expensive than other types of white paper.

Term: Dirt
Description: Foreign matter in the paper can provide appearance of specks. This can detract from the print job and interfere with automatic reading devises such as OCR scanners.

Term: Dot Matrix
Description: A system of printing where individual dots are printed in matrix 5×7, 7×9, etc. forming bars, alphanumeric characters and simple graphics.

Term: Dot Size
Description: Ink Jet Dot Matrix Thermal

Term: Dots Per Inch
Description: A term to measure resolution of electronic data printers. Frequently the abbreviation of DPI is used. Electronic data printers form images by printing a series of dots on a material. The higher the dots per inch, the higher the resolution will be. Information printed at high DPI look natural. The eye can not see the dots. Resolution DPI has a large bearing on the ability of scanners to read bar codes. Bar code readers look for the space between the lines. When low DPI resolutions are used, the space will not be the right size. The bar code will not scan.

Term: Dpi
Description: An abbreviation for dots per inch.

Term: Draw
Description: The displacement of the cut by the thickness of the cutting blade during the trimming operation. This is a common cause of inaccurately cut paper. It can also be a term for the tension applied to the paper between sections of a paper machine.

Term: Dry Gum
Description: A water sensitive adhesive that has a dull finish. It is more dimensionally stable than conventional gum. See also water sensitive.

Term: Dry Seal Adhesive
Description: Another term for cohesive adhesive. It is an adhesive that will not stick to other things than the adhesive itself.

Term: DSc
Description: Distribution Symbology Study Group.

Term: Dull Laminated Foil
Description: This is a pressure sensitive face stock that is paper laminated foil with a matte appearance. It is available in both silver and gold colors. See also paper laminated foil.

Term: Duraform(R)
Description: A Kimberly-Clark trade name for latex impregnated papers. See latex impregnating.

Term: Dyne Level
Description: Dyne is a measurement of surface tension or energy. The level is the actual reading of the critical surface tension. Low dyne levels indicate a low surface energy which can contribute to poor ink adhesion.

Term: Edge Curl/Lift
Description: The peeling back or lifting of the outer edge of a label which has been applied to a surface.

Term: Edge Roughness
Description: Irregularities in the printing of bar code elements, resulting in a non-uniform edge, and resulting in edge errors.

Term: Edi
Description: Electronic Data Interchange; a method by which data is electronically transmitted from one point to another.

Term: Ed
Description: An abbreviation for electronic data processing. It commonly is a name applied to pressure sensitive labels that are used on impact computer printers.

Term: Elasticity
Description: The extensible property of an adhesive to contract and expand in such a manner as to overcome the differential contraction and expansion rates that the substrate may contain.

Term: Elmendorf
Description: This is testing equipment to determine tear strength of paper. It uses a falling pendulum. See also tear.

Term: Elongation
Description: The distance a material will stretch lengthwise before breaking, expressed as a percentage of its original length.

Term: Emboss
Description: A design on a surface causing the letters, figures or patterns to be raised by pressure of dies, rollers and printing presses.

Term: Emulsion
Description: A dispersion of fine particles of a liquid in another liquid normally incompatible with it. The term emulsion is frequently misapplied to dispersions.

Term: Enameled Paper
Description: A coated paper with a shiny finish. Sometimes it is referred to as just enamel.

Term: Encapsulation
Description: The enclosure of adhesive particles with a protective film which prevents activation until pressure is applied. An example is carbonless paper. This is normally white, but turns dark in areas in which pressure is applied.

Term: Engraved Die
Description: A type of die used on roll presses that combines die and cylinder into one piece. This is the most common type of die used on narrow web pressure sensitive presses. The main advantage it offers compared to magnetic dies is long life span. The die can be re-sharpened several times before the end of its life cycle. This type of die also does not have circumference limitations that occur with magnetic dies. The main disadvantage compared to magnetic dies is higher cost. Also, engraved dies are very heavy in larger sizes. They are more difficult to transport, store and install into the press.

Term: Expansion
Description: The change in dimensions of a sheet of paper due to absorption of moisture. Paper expands to a greater extent across the grain than with the grain.

Term: Extrude
Description: Forcing a liquid through a measured orifice. The amount of liquid forced though will depend on the size of the opening.

Term: Face Cut Label
Description: A die cut label from which the matrix has not been removed.

Term: Face Stock
Description: The part of the pressure sensitive construction that is printed. It ends up being most of what a user sees as a label. In gummed paper, frequently this layer is called the base material.

Term: Fadeometer
Description: A mechanical device which measures the effect of light upon colored surfaces.

Term: Fanning
Description: A process of manually separating the edges of sheet stock. It is a common recommended procedure when printing sheet pressure sensitive. The goal is that the edges of sheets will not stick together when they feed into a press.

Term: Felt Side
Description: The side of paper that did not come in contact with wire during the paper making process. Generally it is more smooth than the wire side. See also wire side.

Term: Fiber
Description: The strands of wood, cotton or jute that make up the paper. This can also be spelled fiber.

Term: Fiber Tear
Description: The rupture of paper or cloth fibers during the separation of the adhesive from the substrate. This can also be spelled fiber tear. If corrugated is the substrate, a label would exhibit fiber tear when small pieces of the brown box come up with the label during attempted removal. Against other non fibrous substrates, fiber tear would occur when parts of the label destruct and are left on the substrate during attempts to remove the label This represents a higher bond to the surface than would adhesion without fiber tear. It is still possible for the label to provide good enough adhesion that it will not flag or fall off without exhibiting fiber tear. Labels leaving fiber tear would not have a tendency to either fall off or flag.

Term: Fill
Description: The maximum width of paper that can be made on a paper machine.

Term: Film
Description: A transparent or opaque material used for face and liner material manufactured from synthetic molecular weight polymers.

Term: Film Liner
Description: A release liner that uses a film as a base rather than paper. Film liners offer better caliper control than paper. They are more forgiving of too deep die cutting and do not tend to break as frequently as paper liners when die cutting extends through the silicone release layer. They also provide greater strength than paper liners. Frequently they find use when end customers are concerned about avoiding liner breaks. Film liners are more expensive than paper liners.

Term: Film Master
Description: A photographic film representation of a specific symbol from which a printing plate is produced.

Term: Film
Description: Facing Identification Mark, used on reply mail to identify the front of the envelope during presorting or bulk mail.

Term: Fine Paper
Description: Papers primarily intended for printing and writing applications. It is the opposite of coarse paper in smoothness of printing paper. Sometimes, merchants that specialize in printings grades are called fine paper merchants. See also coarse paper.

Term: Finish
Description: The surface property of a paper sheet determined by its surface contour and gloss.

Term: Fish Eyes
Description: Round or eye shaped deformations in a coating on the surface of a substrate.

Term: Fixed Beam Bar Code Reader
Description: A scanning device where scanning motion is achieved by moving the object relative to the reader; as opposed to Moving Beam Reader.

Term: Flag
Description: A marker inserted into rolls or a stack of sheets to designate splices, defects, etc. It is usually a brightly colored piece of paper.

Term: Flame Treatment
Description: A method of changing the surface characteristics of polymeric materials to promote good wetting and adhesion of applied liquid materials.

Term: Flexibility
Description: A property of face stocks which is measured under specified conditions to indicate how readily they will conform to curved surfaces. Generally the heavier and thicker a material is, the less flexible it will be. Latex grades tend to offer greater flexibility than plain papers of the same basis weight.

Term: Flow Out
Description: The ability of an adhesive to wet out or spread after application.

Term: Fluorescent Paper
Description: A paper coated with a pigment which not only reflects a visible wavelength, but is activated by most of the remaining absorbed light to re-emit it as a color of longer wavelength which results in reinforcement of the reflected color. They almost seem to glow.

Term: Fluorocarbon Films
Description: A film with very high and low temperature limits, excellent electrical characteristics, and very slippery, non-sticking surface. example DuPont's Teflon.

Term: Flying Splice
Description: An operation of splicing a new roll on production equipment without stopping the production equipment. This is also used in the roofing industry to join new rolls of felt. See festoon.

Term: Foil Paper Laminate
Description: The formal term for foil stocked in the pressure sensitive industry. It is a laminate of aluminum foil and paper. The aluminum gives the face stock a metallic appearance, while the paper adds stiffness and strength.

Term: Fold
Description: Paper is tested for fold strength by the forms industry with a MIT or Schopper Tester. Both determine the amount of double folds required to rupture a paper sample under constant tension. Results are measured in both MD and CD.

Term: Folio
Description: A trade term in sheets for a 17 x 22 size.

Term: Font
Description: A specific size and style of printer’s type.

Term: Formation
Description: A property of paper which is determined by the degree of uniformity of distribution of the solid components of the sheet with reference to the fibers.

Term: Four-Color Process
Description: Printing with yellow, magenta, and cyan color inks plus black, using screens to create all other colors.

Term: Fpm
Description: An abbreviation for feet per minute. It is a frequently used term to quantify press processing speeds.

Term: Free Sheet
Description: Paper made of pulp which has been subjected to the very minimum of beating or hydration. A free sheet has a low apparent density and a high rate of absorption.

Term: Freezer Adhesive
Description: A type of pressure sensitive adhesive designed for application at below freezing temperatures. Most freezer adhesives will work in refrigerator conditions, but will not work well at room temperatures. Most will act as a very week removable when applied at room temperature. See also cold temperature adhesive and all temperature adhesive.

Term: G.E. Brightness Tester
Description: Test equipment used to test brightness of paper. It is currently called the Martin Sweets Reflection Dynamometer Meter. See also brightness.

Term: Gauge
Description: A unit of measure usually the thickness or diameter of a material expressed by a number.

Term: General Trade Items
Description: Items that are not specifically made for one customer.

Term: Glassine
Description: A nearly transparent, resilient glazed paper resistant to the passage of air and grease.

Term: Gloss
Description: The property of a surface which causes it to reflect light. The reflectance causes the surface to appear shiny.

Term: Grade
Description: A term applied to a paper which is ranked on basis of its use, appearance, manufacturing history, raw materials or performance.

Term: Grain
Description: The machine direction of paper. On a roll, it would be the length of the roll. This would be opposite of cross direction.

Term: Grain Direction
Description: Cellulose fibers are shaped like logs. When they form a sheet of paper, more fibers will usually lie in one direction than the other. Grain long is the direction that has more fibers and the length of the logs. Grain short is the direction that has less fibers. Extra stiffness is associated with the grain long direction. On rolls, grain long is the length of the roll. Generally on sheets, grain direction is indicated by second dimension shown. For example, 25 x 20 would be considered a grain short sheet whereas 20 x 25 would be considered grain long. Also the direction taken by a majority of the fibers in any sheet of paper. It is the same as machine direction MD and the opposite of cross direction CD. Paper will usually be more stiff in the grain direction. Usually you can determine grain direction by positioning the edge of paper over the end of a desk so that about half of the paper is unsupported. The grain direction will bend less when unsupported.

Term: Grain Long
Description: See grain direction.

Term: Grain Short
Description: See grain direction.

Term: Gravure Printing
Description: A printing process employing minute engraved wells. generally, deeply etched wells carry more ink than a raised surface, hence print darker values. shallow wells print light values. a doctor blade wipes excess ink from the cylindrical printing surface.

Term: Guard Bars
Description: The bars which are at both ends and center of a UPC and EAN symbol. They provide reference points for scanning.

Term: Guillotine
Description: Equipment for trimming paper with a downward cutting action similar in operation to the guillotine used in France.

Term: Gummed Paper
Description: Paper with a layer of remoistening adhesive.

Term: Gummed Tape
Description: Tape with a layer of remoistening adhesive. This type of tape is frequently used for sealing boxes.

Term: Gurley Densometer
Description: A tester that determines porosity by forcing air through the paper sample and measuring it in time. It measures the time in seconds for 100 ml of air. The higher the number, the denser the paper. See also Sheffield Porosity Tester and stiffness.

Term: Halo
Description: An undesirable, peripheral outline of a printed image or outline of adhesive around the edge of an applied pressure sensitive label.

Term: Hardness
Description: The relative resistance of a metal or other material to denting, scratching, or bending. Within the flexo industry, this term mainly relates to how hard dies are. Hardness is measured in Rockwell. The degree of hardness of a die varies based on the material that will be cut.

Term: Hardwood
Description: Lumber from deciduous trees or ones that lose their leaves in winter. It is not necessarily an indication of how hard the wood is. Some hardwoods are soft and easily worked.

Term: Heat Curing Adhesives
Description: Adhesives that require a definite period of time above room temperature to develop full bond strength. The tern is usually applied to adhesives that require 180 degrees F and higher temperatures to affect a cure.

Term: Heat Resistance
Description: The property of a material which inhibits the occurrence of physical or chemical charges caused by exposure to high temperatures.

Term: Heat Seal
Description: This refers to the joining of two materials by application of heat and pressure. Some plastic bags are heat sealed to form a closure.

Term: Hiba
Description: Health Industry Bar Code. The symbology and label format for use by the health care industry. Address: 5110 N 40th Street, Suite 120, Phoenix AZ 85018.

Term: High Gloss
Description: A roll and sheet pressure sensitive face stock that is a cast coated paper. Technicote High Gloss is Champion KromeKote. See cast coated paper.

Term: High Temperature Adhesive
Description: An adhesive that will enable a pressure sensitive label to adhere or stick well when applied to a hot substrate.

Term: Holding Power
Description: The ability of an adhesive to resist the static forces applied in the same plane as the backing. It is usually expressed in time required for a given weight to cause a given amount of label stock or tape to come loose from a vertical panel. This is another term for shear adhesion.

Term: Hologram
Description: The pattern on a photosensitive material or embossed into a polymeric film structure resulting from an interference pattern created by a laser light striking an object, then merging with a reference beam of the same light.

Term: Horizontal Bar Code
Description: A bar code or symbol presented in such a manner that its overall length dimension is parallel to the horizon. The bars are presented in an array which look like a picket fence.

Term: Hot Melt
Description: A pressure sensitive adhesive applied to the backing in a hot molten form which cools to form a conventional pressure sensitive adhesive. All of what is applied is adhesive — there is no carrier.

Term: Hot Melt Coating
Description: Application of a coating material in liquid form by the use of applied heat to melt the constituents to a sufficiently low viscosity for coating.

Term: Hygrometer
Description: A device which measures relative humidity of air. They vary in complexity. Simple ones are sling hygrometers. They have two thermometers. One has wet cloth over the tip. Numbers from each are aligned on a slide rule to obtain the relative humidity. More sophisticated ones have a digital read out and work automatically.

Term: Hygroscopic
Description: The ability of an adhesive film to absorb and retain moisture. Some water sensitive adhesives could be activated by extremely high relative humidity. This would cause blocking. Some special adhesives are designed to reduce this problem when labels are used in tropical climates.

Term: Id
Description: Abbreviation for inside diameter. It is the usual designation for core sizes because the ID determines what size shaft the core will fit.

Term: id
Description: Infrared Laser Diode

Term: Imaging Liner
Description: The mid liner in some piggyback constructions will leave an image after impact printing. The image left behind leaves a record of variable information on the label that was applied to something else. Imaging liners are carbonless paper coated with a release coating.

Term: Imp
Description: Acronym for in-mold labeling.

Term: Impact Printing
Description: Any printing system where a micro processor controlled hammer impacts against a ribbon and a substrate.

Term: Impregnate
Description: To provide liquid penetration into a porous or fibrous material. Latex grades in pressure sensitive line are latex impregnated.

Term: Imprinting
Description: A technique in which changeable copy is applied to blank or previously printed labels, tags, etc. Originally it was a term used mainly in the marking machine industry to refer to printing by stencils or rubber mat printing. It can also refer to computer printing or typing of variable information. This most common information imprinted would be ship to information on labels or product identification. The ability to imprint variable information allows the consumer to use the same labels for many different products and customers. More recently variable information is imprinted with non impact methods. Some types are direct thermal, laser and thermal transfer.

Term: Infra-Red
Description: Part of the electromagnetic spectrum between the visible light range and the radar range. Radiant heat is in this range.

Term: Initial Tack
Description: The initial adhesion an adhesive offers at time of application. It needs to be sticky enough to hold the label to the substrate. The degree of initial tack that is desirable depends on the application. Adhesion to some difficult surfaces will not happen unless the adhesive offers high initial tack. On the other hand, some applications need an adhesive with low initial tack so that it can be repositionable. Generally rubber based adhesives and tackified acrylic adhesives offer high initial tack.

Term: Ink Jet
Description: A method of printing using liquid ink projected a drop at a time against a substrate.

Term: Ink Receptivity
Description: Papers vary in their ability to accept various quantities of inks. Ink receptivity is frequently related to the porosity of the paper.

Term: Instantaneous Adhesive
Description: A type of heat sensitive adhesive that needs application of heat and pressure simultaneously. It is the opposite type compared to delayed action heat sensitive.

Term: Internal Bond
Description: A measure of the structural integrity of the paper. It is needed to prevent the delamination or peeling of paper during offset printing.

Term: Internal Stress
Description: Strain created within the adhesive layer by expansion or contraction.

Term: Ire
Description: Abbreviation for infra-red. See infra-red.

Term: Ire Thermal
Description: A type of direct thermal paper designed to be scanned in the infrared scale of light. Some users prefer this type because infrared scanners use less electricity than conventional scanners.

Term: Jan
Description: Japanese Article Numbering, same as EAN.

Term: Job Lot
Description: Rejected material. It could have been rejected by the manufacturer or by a customer. There is usually some type of quality defect in job lot material. It is sold at a reduced price because of the defect.

Term: Kimdura
Description: A polypropylene Kimberly-Clark face stock. It offers consistent printing compared to vinyl because it does not need to be top coated for printing. It is guaranteed for one year of outside exposure and may last longer without degradation. We stock the FPG 80 grade which has a caliper of 3.2 mil.

Term: Kimdura Li
Description: A special grade of Kimdura treated to improve anchorage of laser toner and provide better heat resistance making it more stable during laser printing.

Term: Knife Coating
Description: A type of adhesive coating consisting of a rigid blade which is mounted for adjustment above a roll. Fluid coating material is placed behind the blade so that it is pulled under the blade. This method can only be used on a continuous coating process.

Term: Kraft
Description: A tough, usually brown paper made from wood pulp treated with a solution of sodium sulfate, used chiefly for bags and wrapping paper.

Term: Kromekote
Description: A Champion Paper brand name for a cast coated paper. We call this paper by its trade name in all product areas except pressure sensitive. We call it High Gloss in Technicote pressure sensitive product lines. See also cast coated.

Term: Label
Description: An item that functions as a means of identification, especially a small piece of paper or cloth attached to an article to designate its origin, owner, contents, use, or destination. It is the functional portion of a pressure, water or heat sensitive construction consisting of the face stock and adhesive.

Term: Labelmate
Description: A polypropylene liner manufactured by Mobile Chemical.

Term: Lacquer
Description: A clear protective coating, usually glossy, applied to a printed web in-line on a label press just prior to die cutting.

Term: Laminate
Description: A web material formed by bonding two or more materials together.

Term: Laser
Description: A type of computer printing that uses a dry toner which is fused to paper by a combination of heat and pressure. Laser printers offer high print resolution, quiet operation and some have high speed output. The heat and pressure that occurs during printing can pose problems for adhesive coated labels. Special pressure sensitive adhesives are selected for compatibility with the harsh printing environment.

Term: Laser Scanner
Description: An optical bar code reading device using a low-energy laser light beam as its source of illumination.

Term: Latex Impregnated Paper
Description: Paper manufactured in a way to impregnate or saturate the paper fibers with latex. One method of manufacture called impregnation combines the latex with the fibers in the beater prior to formation of the sheet. The second method saturates the preformed web with a properly compounded latex. The latter is referred to as latex saturated paper. These grades are characterized by strength, folding endurance, resistance to penetration by water, flexibility, durability and resistance to abrasion.

Term: Lay-Flat
Description: The property of a label construction which describes its ability to remain flat or non-curling.

Term: Led
Description: Light emitting diode. A semiconductor that produces light at a frequency determined by its chemical composition. The light source commonly used in wand-type readers.

Term: Legging
Description: The stringing out of pressure sensitive adhesive when a label is drawn away from a substrate, its release liner or its matrix.

Term: Letter Press Printing
Description: A printing process that uses raised type. Generally the smoothness of paper used is very important to quality printing. Uniformity of caliper is also important. Rotary letter press printing is higher quality than can usually be achieved by flexographic printing.

Term: Level
Description: The ability of an adhesive to flow sufficiently upon application so that the exposed surface will be relatively flat and free from corrugations or other irregularities resulting from application. This could be another term for an applied label that looked wrinkled after application.

Term: Lexan
Description: General electric company’s trademark for polycarbonate film.

Term: Lifting
Description: Pulling away from the substrate a section of an applied label.

Term: Light Resistance
Description: The ability of a material to resist change when exposed to UV light. Common changes that could happen would be lightening of colors or darkening of colors. Paper can change, films can change, substrates can change and inks can change.

Term: Liner
Description: The layer in the pressure sensitive construction that prevents one layer of labels from sticking to the next. The release liner also protects the adhesive from contamination prior to label application. It has a release coating which provides adequate adhesion to insure integrity of the construction, but still allows easy removal by the end user.

Term: Litho
Description: See lithographic paper.

Term: Lithographic Paper
Description: A paper coated on at least one side that is suitable for lithographic printing. It is available as a C1S grade that is only clay coated on one side or a C2S grade that is clay coated on both sides. This is the full term for paper referred to as litho. Technicote semigloss, and C1S litho are examples of this type of paper.

Term: Loop Tack
Description: A test to determine the strength of immediate adhesion of a pressure sensitive label, usually to stainless steel.

Term: Loop Tenacity
Description: Another term for loop strength. This can be a method of testing adhesive strength against a substrate.

Term: Low Finish
Description: A paper with no glaze or gloss.

Term: Let
Description: Abbreviation for less than a truckload. It usually refers to shipments less than 40,000 lbs. in weight.

Term: Machine Direction
Description: The direction of web materials parallel to it’s forward movement on a machine or coater.

Term: Machine Finish
Description: In the pressure sensitive industry it most frequently refers to a liner that was calendared on the paper machine rather than when calendaring is done as a separate operation. It is full term for abbreviation M.F.

Term: Machine-Readable
Description: A general term for printed material which can be directly transferred to a data processing system.

Term: Magnetic Die
Description: A die used in on roll label presses that is made from a thin sheet of metal. Magnetic dies attach to a fixed cylinder magnetically. Magnetic dies are much less expensive to buy than engraved dies, but they do not last as long. The reason they are less expensive is that the printer does not buy a new cylinder each time he buys a die. Their main limitations are that they need a large circumference cylinder and their shorter life cycle. Their main advantage is ease of handling and lower cost.

Term: Making Order
Description: Any order which cannot be filled from stock and is made according to the purchaser’s specifications. It could involve either a large quantity of a standard item, or it could be a custom combination that is not currently stocked.

Term: Mandrel
Description: The core around which a material is wound to form tubes.

Term: Manifold Paper
Description: A light weight paper used by the form industry for additional carbon copies. Frequently it is in a 7 to 9 pound basis weight bond basis. The paper needs to be light weight so that imaging will be visible on lower parts of a multi-part form.

Term: Manufacturer's Id
Description: In the UPC code, the 6 digit number applied by the UCC to uniquely identify a manufacturer or company selling products under its own name; the first 6 digits of the 12-digit UPC number

Term: Marginal Perforation
Description: A type of perforation in a form used to enable the user to manually remove the pin feed margins from the form.

Term: Martin Sweets Reflection Dynamometer
Description: Equipment used to measure brightness of paper. It was formerly called the G.E. Brightness Tester. See also brightness.

Term: Matrix
Description: The face and adhesive layers of a pressure sensitive construction surrounding the die-cut labels. this is usually removed after die-cutting to obtain pressure sensitive labels mounted on a release liner.

Term: Matrix Stripping
Description: The act of removing the matrix surrounding the label at high speeds.

Term: Matte Finish
Description: A dull finish.

Term: Md
Description: This stands for machine direction of the paper. The machine direction would be the direction of paper parallel to its forward movement on the paper machine. In rolls it would be the length of the roll. In sheets it would be the long grain direction of the sheet. Generally paper offers greater strength and stiffness in the machine direction.

Term: Mechanical Adhesion
Description: The attraction of label and substrate based on the physical interlocking of the adhesive with substrate. Smoothness of substrate has a big bearing on how good mechanical adhesion is. The rougher the surface, the less mechanical adhesion there will be.

Term: Medium
Description: A term used in the water sensitive industry to refer to colored offset base papers.

Term: Melting Point
Description: The temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid.

Term: Memory
Description: The property of a material that attempts to return to it’s original shape.

Term: Metalized Film
Description: A plastic or resinous film that has been coated on one side with a very thin layer of metal. See metalizing.

Term: Metalized Paper
Description: A paper that has been coated on one side with a very thin layer of metal. See metalizing.

Term: Metalizing
Description: The application of a thin coating of metal to a non metallic surface. They are similar in appearance to foil, but do not have a solid layer of aluminum.

Term: Migration
Description: The movement of one or more of the components of a pressure sensitive adhesive to either a substrate or face stock. It can also refer to components of face stock, ink or substrate that move into the adhesive. For example, plasticizers in vinyl frequently migrate into rubber based adhesives causing the label stock to look transparent.

Term: Mil
Description: Unit of thickness measurement used for materials. 1 mil = 0.001 inch = 100 gauge

Term: Mill Brand
Description: A product brand chosen by the paper mill or supplier as a trade name. It would be the opposite of private brand where a merchant picks the name.

Term: Mil-Std
Description: Military Standard.

Term: MIS
Description: Management Information Systems

Term: MMMSI
Description: An abbreviation for billion square inches.

Term: MMSI
Description: An abbreviation for million square inches.

Term: Moisture Content
Description: A measure of how much moisture is in the paper. The moisture content of paper affects its dimensional stability and affects most of the strength tests. Normally samples are conditioned in air at 731/4F and 50% RH before conducting strength tests. A dry paper would tend to tear more easily. Paper changes in moisture content depending on atmospheric conditions to which it is subjected. It is measured numerically and higher numbers indicate a larger amount of moisture is present.

Term: Moisture Equilibrium
Description: When a sample stops changing in weight because of moisture absorbed or given off. Paper will get heavier as it picks up moisture and lighter as it gives off moisture.

Term: Moisture Proof
Description: The property of a material which makes it substantially impervious to water vapor. This type of treating is frequently done on boxes that will be in high moisture atmospheres. Many types of moisture proof coatings can make label adhesion difficult. This is particularly the case with water sensitive adhesives. Due to fears of overstating performance, many use the term moisture resistant rather than moisture proof.

Term: Monomer
Description: A primary chemical structure which reacts with itself, under the influence of catalytic action, to create polymeric forms of much greater molecular weight.

Term: Mottle
Description: Non uniform coloring or gloss level of paper.

Term: MSI
Description: An abbreviation for thousand square inches. It is the most common unit of pricing in the roll pressure sensitive industry. At times it is used for pricing dry gum forms products.

Term: Mullen Tester
Description: A brand of equipment used to test the bursting strength of paper.

Term: Mylar(R)
Description: Dupont’s trademark for clear, tough polymeric polyester film.

Term: Nameplate
Description: Describes a label product generally manufactured of metal or other material designed to withstand exposure to adverse conditions. usually contains information such as serial numbers of components, electrical requirements and are generally affixed to products utilizing a permanent adhesive.

Term: Nanometer
Description: Unit of measure used to define the wavelength of light. Equal to 10-9 meter.

Term: Nc
Description: Abbreviation for nitrocellulose. This top coating is compatible with offset printing and flexo solvent inks, but not water based flexo inks. Since AC top coatings are compatible with both water and solvent based flexo inks, only AC is currently stocked in Technicote roll pressure sensitive line.

Term: Neutral Papers
Description: Papers that have a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 which indicates freedom from acid and alkali. Such papers are chemically inert and will not cause corrosion of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

Term: Nip
Description: This can have one of two meanings depending on capitalization. In lower case, this usually refers to the point of contact between two rolls. When written NIP or N.I.P. this usually refers to non impact printing. Non impact printing is one of several methods of placing an image on paper without conventional contact of a dot matrix printer or typewriter. Typical forms on NIP printing today are laser, direct thermal and thermal transfer.

Term: Nominal
Description: The exact or ideal intended value for a specified parameter. Tolerances are specified as positive and negative deviations from this value.

Term: Non-Oriented Film
Description: Film which has not been subjected to stress to align the polymer chains to improve it’s properties.

Term: NTC
Description: Abbreviation for non top coated. Frequently users refer to direct thermal as TC or NTC. The NTC grade uses the same base paper, but does not have a top coating to protect the image from liquids.

Term: NTC Thermal
Description: A generic designation for direct thermal that does not have a top coating mainly used for dry grocery applications and industrial applications.

Term: Nylon(R)
Description: Dupont’s trade name for a strong plastic film which has high oil and gas resistance; used as filament to reinforce and add strength to materials demanding high impact resistance.

Term: Offset
Description: A defect in printing characterized by the partial transference of ink from a freshly printed surface to an adjacent surface, such as another sheet of paper.

Term: Offset Paper
Description: A type of paper designed for use on offset presses with general characteristics to resist distortion from stretching or shrinking, good pick strength, freedom from fuzz and a smooth surface which will take ink evenly.

Term: Offset Printing
Description: A process of indirect printing in which an impression of type or a design on a plate is printed on a rubber blanketed cylinder from which it is impressed. i.e. offset upon the surface to be decorated.

Term: Oozing
Description: A squeezing out of the adhesive from under the backing substrate.

Term: Opacimeter
Description: An instrument that measures the degree of opacity.

Term: Opacity
Description: The ability of the paper to prevent show-through of type on the reverse side. The higher the opacity, the more costly it is to produce. Dynamometer and Hugem instruments measure the percent reflectance of the paper sample backed by a black body compared to the reflectance of the paper when backed by a white body. Also the property of a substrate material that minimizes show-through from the back side or the next sheet. The ratio of the reflectance with a black backing to the reflectance with a white backing. Ink opacity is the property of an ink that prevents the substrate from showing through.

Term: OPP
Description: Oriented polypropylene

Term: Opticite(R) Film
Description: A Dow Chemical polystyrene face stock. See polystyrene.

Term: Opticite(R) Sqz
Description: Dow Opticite(r) specially manufactured for potential use in flexible packaging applications. It is a more economical alternate to vinyl in squeeze applications.

Term: Orientation
Description: In bar codes, the alignment of the symbol’s scan path. Two possible orientations are horizontal with vertical bars and spaces picket fence and vertical with horizontal bars and spaces ladder. In adhesives, the alignment of the crystalline structure in polymeric materials so as to produce a highly uniform structure. can be accomplished by cold drawing or stretching during fabrication.

Term: Pallet
Description: A platform onto which product can be leaded for storage or transporting. Most that we use are wood. Some customers refer to pallets as skids.

Term: Paper
Description: A material made of cellulose pulp, derived mainly from wood, rags, and certain grasses, processed into flexible sheets or rolls by deposit from an aqueous suspension, and used chiefly for writing, printing, drawing, wrapping, and covering walls.

Term: Paper Formation
Description: An indication of evenness with which the cellulose fibers are bound together. The more uniform the formation, the better the print quality will be.

Term: Pattern Coated
Description: An adhesive coating which does not completely cover the surface. There are several terms that could refer to something that is pattern coated. They are strip coated, strip gummed and zone coated. Technicote is capable of strip coating and strip gumming adhesives.

Term: Peel Adhesion
Description: The force required to remove a pressure sensitive adhesive label from a standard test panel at a specified angle and speed after it has been applied to the test panel under specified conditions.

Term: Perforated
Description: A series of small incisions made in paper to facilitate tearing along a predetermined line. There are two common uses for perforating. One is in the forms industry when it is desired that a user will separate part of the form. A second is when product is fan folded. Perforations at a right angle to the machine direction of the paper allow the product to fan fold and be pulled apart one sheet at a time. Both label printers and business form manufacturers use perforations for this purpose.

Term: Permanent Adhesive
Description: An adhesive characterized by having relatively high adhesion to a wide variety of surfaces. They are used in applications in which the user wants the label to stay on the substrate for a prolonged period of time.

Term: Ph
Description: The measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, numerically equal to 7 for neutral solutions, increasing with increasing alkalinity and decreasing with increasing acidity. The pH scale commonly in use ranges from 0 to 14.

Term: Pick
Description: The tendency of fibers or particles to be pulled away from the sheet surface when removed from tacky surfaces such as printing plates.

Term: Pick Resistance
Description: A measure of the amount of tack from inks needed to pull fibers out of the paper’s printing surface.

Term: Piggyback
Description: A pressure sensitive label stock that has one face stock, and two layers of adhesive and liner. It is used in applications where the label needs to be applied initially to one surface, but later removed and applied to a second surface. The mailing label on the income tax form is an example of this type of label.

Term: Pin Feed
Description: A method of transporting paper through a computer printer which uses a round wheel of pins. The pins fit into holes punched in the outside 1/2 edge of each side of the paper. Sometimes this type of mechanism is referred to as tractor feed.

Term: Pin Hole
Description: A very small hold which may permit the passage of light, moisture or electrical content.

Term: Pitch
Description: Rotation of a bar code symbol about an axis parallel to the direction of the bars.

Term: Plastic – High Se
Description: An abbreviation for plastic – high surface energy. Some examples are high density polyethylene, PET, PETE, Vinyl, Polypropylene. Some of these plastics provide more difficult adhesion for many adhesives than low se plastics.

Term: Plastic – Low Se
Description: An abbreviation for plastic – low surface energy. Some examples are low density polyethylene, polystyrene, Teflon, rubber (latex.) and Styrofoam. Some of these plastics provide easier adhesion to many adhesives than high se plastics.

Term: Plasticity
Description: The characteristic or retaining deformation after the deforming stresses are removed.

Term: Plasticize
Description: To soften an adhesive or coating by plasticizers

Term: Plasticizer
Description: A substance added to materials to impart softness, flexibility, workability, elongation, and dispensability.

Term: Plasticizer
Description: A substance added to materials to impart flexibility, workability and elongation.

Term: Polarity
Description: The relative surface charge of an adhesive resulting from the molecular structure of the substrate.

Term: Polycarbonate
Description: A high clarity film having the versatility of acetate, with the durability of polyester.

Term: Polyester
Description: A strong film having good resistance to moisture, solvents, oils and many other chemicals.

Term: Polyester Metallized Film
Description: A clear polyester film, vacuum metallized on one side to provide a metallic look.

Term: Polyethylene
Description: A tough, stretchy plastic film having very good low temperature characteristics.

Term: Polypropylene
Description: Similar to polyethylene, but stronger and having a higher temperature resistance. excellent clarity for no label look.

Term: Polystyrene
Description: A thermoplastic produced by the polymerization of styrene. the electrical insulating properties are good and moisture resistant.

Term: Polyvinyl
Description: A group of resins formed by polymerizing various vinyl monomers.

Term: Porosity
Description: A measure of air resistance through a sheet of paper. It is an important factor in determining how much adhesive or ink will soak into a paper. Porosity is measured numerically by indicating how long a standard volume of air will take to pass through the paper. Lower numbers indicate that the paper is more porous or more absorbent. We need to be careful. in paper selection to make sure that that porosity is not too low. Gurley Densometer and Sheffield Porosity tester determine porosity by forcing air through the paper sample and measuring it in time or rate of flow. The Gurley measures the time in seconds for 100 ml of air. The higher the score, the denser the paper. The Sheffield measures rate of flow of a continuous flow of air through the sheet. The higher the score the less dense the sheet.

Term: Preheating
Description: An initial warm up of product before more extensive heat is applied. Many high speed laser printers use a preheat platen to begin warming paper up to fusion temperature.

Term: Pressure Sensitive
Description: An adhesive that is normally tacky at room temperature. They require no activation by water, solvent or heat in order to exert a strong adhesive holding force on a substrate.

Term: Pressure Sensitive Label
Description: A self adhesive label construction composed of face stock, pressure sensitive adhesive and release liner. The official TLMI definition is A pressure sensitive self adhesive label product is a die-cut part that has been converted through roll fed production equipment utilizing the type of pressure sensitive self adhesive material which has a protective backing. The end product is produced in the form of either rolls, sheets, fanfold, or by other techniques that produce like products which have been slit or cut from the converted rolls. Sheet PS product is also made into labels that would be considered pressure sensitive labels.

Term: Pressure Sensitive Label Stock
Description: The combination of face stock, pressure sensitive adhesive and release liner from which pressure sensitive labels are manufactured.

Term: Prime Label
Description: A label used to identify and display a product.

Term: Print Quality
Description: The measure of compliance of a bar code symbol to the requirements of dimensional tolerance, edge roughness, spots, voids, reflectance, PCS, quiet zone, and encodation.

Term: Printability
Description: The ability of a surface to accept and hold printing inks; especially to resist offset of the printing when rewound into a roll after printing. surface treatment is often used to increase the degree of printability.

Term: Printout
Description: Variable information which has been written by automatic printer from a computer.

Term: Process Printing
Description: Printing from a series of two or more halftone plates to produce intermediate colors and shades.

Term: Product Id
Description: In the UPC code, the 5 digit number assigned by a manufacturer to every consumer unit in its product catalog. The Product ID is different for every standard package consumer unit of the same product.

Term: Protective Coating
Description: A coating that protects the printing and the surface of a pressure sensitive label from either abrasion, sunlight, chemicals, moisture or a combination of these. Top Coating on direct thermal product is an example of this type of coating.

Term: PSI
Description: An abbreviation for pounds per square inch. Some laser equipment literature indicates the PSI pressure which the printer will subject the paper.

Term: PVC
Description: Polyvinyl chloride

Term: Quick Stick
Description: The property of a pressure sensitive adhesive which allows it to adhere to a surface under very light pressure. It is determined by the ability of the adhesive to quickly wet the surface contacted. This term can also apply to water and heat sensitive adhesives.

Term: Radio Frequency
Description: Non-optical automatic identification devices that use radio waves to transmit data.

Term: Radio Frequency Tag
Description: An electronic tag capable of receiving/storing and/or transmitting digital information.

Term: Range Of A Scanner
Description: The larger the element, the greater the range and ease-of-use of a scanner.

Term: Ream
Description: 500 sheets of paper.

Term: Ream Marker
Description: A piece of paper used to show divisions between reams.

Term: Ream Weight
Description: The amount which one ream of paper weighs.

Term: Register
Description: The exact corresponding placement of successively printed images and/or successively die-cut labels.

Term: Relative Humidity
Description: The ratio of the amount of moisture contained in the atmosphere to the amount of moisture that can be carried in the atmosphere at a given temperature. Relative humidity is expressed in percent — 75% RH That means at the temperature that the air is 75% saturated with moisture. Ideal conditions for many methods of printing are 75 degrees F and 50% RH Printers need special equipment to maintain this type of atmosphere year around. Most do not have the equipment and tend to run press rooms that are dry during the winter and more moist than ideal during the summer. The larger the deviation from ideal, the greater tendency will be for the sheets of paper to curl.

Term: Release
Description: The act of freeing or separating a pressure sensitive adhesive from it’s release liner.

Term: Release Coat
Description: The coating on a release liner that allows removal of the adhesive. It is frequently silicone based. See also liner and release level.

Term: Release Coat Transfer
Description: The defect referring to the transfer of release coat from the release liner to the pressure sensitive adhesive. If excessive, adhesion will be reduced even when enough adhesive is applied to the construction. This is also called silicone transfer.

Term: Release Level
Description: A measurement of the force needed to remove a release liner from an adhesive. Testing is done on a standard size sample and force needed to separate the liner from the adhesive is measured in grams. The lower the number, the easier it is to remove the liner.

Term: Release Liner
Description: The component of the pressure sensitive label stock which functions as a carrier for the pressure sensitive label. Prior to application, it protects the adhesive and readily separates from the label immediately before the label is applied to its substrate.

Term: Remoistening
Description: An adhesive system which is reactivated by application of water upon the adhesive film.

Term: Removability
Description: A relative term applied to pressure sensitive adhesives to describe the force under which the adhesive can be separated from the substrate. A removable label would be one in which no damage or staining occurs to the substrate or the face stock on separation from substrate. This action is relative to substrate and application conditions. Few removable adhesives are removable from all surfaces.

Term: Removable Adhesive
Description: A pressure sensitive adhesive characterized by low ultimate adhesion to a wide variety of surfaces.

Term: Repositionable Label
Description: An application that requires that the label be initially removable, but build to permanence in a reasonable amount of time. Repositionable labels allow removal of crooked or wrinkled labels without destroying the substrate or label. By the time the label gets to the end user, it is a permanent label. Generally repositionable labels use acrylic permanent adhesives because they offer low initial tack, but build to permanent adhesion.

Term: Repositioning
Description: A re-lamination of labels to a different position on the backing paper. While it is frequently done after die cutting, it can be done before. Separation of face and liner may temporarily reduce release values making the product easier to strip.

Term: Resolution
Description: A term used to describe how finely detailed a printed image is. Usually it is used in relation to EDP printing. Related terms are DPI and dots per inch. The higher the DPI, the higher the resolution. Images look more natural at high resolutions. High resolution is also important for accuracy of bar code scanning. The narrowest element dimension which can be distinguished by a particular reading device or printed with a particular device or method.

Term: Rewinding
Description: The operation of winding the paper from one roll to another. In printing this is frequently done for inspection purposes and to cut down larger diameter press rolls into lengths acceptable to the end customer. It is also used as a method of processing a second time rolls that did not wind evenly during initial production.

Term: Ribbon
Description: A cloth or plastic tape coated with several layers of material, one of which is ink-like, that produces the visible marks on a substrate. Used on formed font impact, dot matrix, thermal transfer and hot stamp printers. Also called Foil.

Term: Rockwell Hardness
Description: A common method of testing a plastics material for resistance to indentation in which a diamond or steel ball under pressure is used to pierce the test specimen. Die hardness is also measured on a Rockwell scale.

Term: Roll Label
Description: Pressure sensitive labels that are stored in roll form.

Term: Rotary Press
Description: A printing press using plates formed to fit rolls and using paper in continuous rolls.

Term: Rotogravure Printing
Description: Printing process that utilizes cylinders that have the design etched into the metal surface. the material to be printed comes in contact with the etched cylinder and the ink is transferred to the surface of the label material.

Term: Rubber Based Adhesives
Description: Adhesives composed of synthetic or natural rubber plus other components which form pressure sensitive compounds. Most rubber based adhesives offer fast quick stick and high ultimate adhesion. They do not age as well as acrylic adhesives.

Term: Saturation Impregnation
Description: Adding materials to the backing for improvement of physical properties and resistance to various environments. See impregnation.

Term: Scoring
Description: A V cut part of the way through paper. It enables folding on boxes. It is called compression scoring on sheet pressure sensitive liner. See compression score.

Term: Screen Printing
Description: A method of printing in which the ink is forced through the image area of a properly stretched fabric by use of a squeegee.

Term: Self Wound
Description: A roll of material with a carrier that has adhesive on both sides. This can also describe pressure sensitive product shipped in roll form which does not utilize a separate release liner.

Term: Service Temperature
Description: The temperature to which a properly applied label is subjected after application. Most adhesives have a wider recommended service temperature range than application temperature range. Usually once the label is properly applied, it will continue to perform in a wide variety of temperatures. For example, a general purpose room temperature permanent label will usually continue to stick even though it is placed in freezing conditions as long as the label has enough time to set up properly.

Term: Set
Description: The interval of time required for adhesive bonding.

Term: Setting Temperature
Description: The temperature to which a liquid resin, an adhesive takes to solidify or form a bond.

Term: Setting Time
Description: The time required for a product to approach maximum strength or firmness.

Term: Shear Adhesion
Description: Another term for holding power. This is the time required, under specified test conditions to slide a standard area of pressure sensitive label from a standard flat surface in a direction parallel to the surface. See holding power.

Term: Shear Strength
Description: The relative resistance of an adhesive film to a stress applied in such a manner that the surfaces slide in a plane parallel to their plane of contact.

Term: Shear Test
Description: A method of separating two adhesive bonded materials by forcing the interfaces to slide over each other. The force exerted is distributed over the entire bonded area at the same time. Strengths are measured time for the bonded materials to separate for specified force used to pull them apart.

Term: Sheffield
Description: This test measures smoothness of paper. Sheffield Porosity Tester determines porosity by forcing air through the paper sample and measuring it rate of flow. The Sheffield measures rate of flow of a continuous flow of air through the sheet. The higher the score the less dense the sheet.

Term: Shelf Life
Description: The period of time during which a product can be stored under specified conditions and will remain suitable for use.

Term: Shipping Container Symbol
Description: The 14-digit number applied to intermediate packs and shipping containers containing UPC marked items. It is always encoded in the Interleaved 2 of 5 symbology.

Term: Show-Through
Description: The generally undesirable property of a substrate that permits underlying markings to be seen.

Term: Shrink Wrapping
Description: A technique of packaging in which the strains in a plastic film are released by raising the temperature of the film. This causes it to shrink over the package.

Term: Silicone
Description: A polymer system which can be a very effective release coating or a pressure sensitive adhesive capable of functioning effectively at extreme temperatures. In the pressure sensitive industry silicone is most frequently used as a release agent. Usually silicone adhesives are used in specialized industrial applications.

Term: Silicone Adhesive
Description: Has remarkable stability through a wide temperature range. Tests indicate little performance change at 300 degrees F to -100 degrees F. Limitations on their use include high temperature cure and relatively high cost.

Term: Silicone Transfer
Description: See release coat transfer.

Term: Silicone Voids
Description: A small section of release coating that does not have any release properties. It is usually circular in shape. When silicone voids occur, the adhesive will stick to the paper on the liner and not remove. This can cause face stock delamination, liner delamination or a web break when automatically applying roll pressure sensitive product.

Term: Sizing
Description: A process done to a paper internally and on the surface by the paper mill. Internal sizing helps determine the rate at which the paper absorbs moisture. External sizing helps glue down the fibers and enhance the prospect of a clean print job.

Term: Skid
Description: A platform, usually wooden, on which paper is packed for shipment.

Term: SKU
Description: Stock Keeping Unit, referring to a particular item included in a data base.

Term: Slitter
Description: A sharp disk which cuts paper into pre-determined widths. The term usually refers to the machine, not just the knives.

Term: Smoothness
Description: Papers vary in smoothness. Generally the smoother a paper is, the better dot formation will be. This results in a crisper printed image.

Term: Smudge Resistance
Description: Resistance of a printed paper surface to ink blurring or smearing and thus related to the absorption of the paper. Resistance to smudging of impact computer inks and typewriter ribbon inks are of concern for legibility. If there is too much smudging before the ink is fully dry, the image will be difficult to read. A crude test can be done by running a finger across freshly printed material to see if it smudges. The ribbon ink used in an IBM Selectric typewriter is one of the worst smudging ribbons that can be used. If the paper will not smudge with that, it is unlikely it will smudge with most other ribbons.

Term: Smudge proof
Description: A grade of paper that offers smudge resistance. See smudge resistance.

Term: Smudgeproof Kimdura
Description: Kimdura that is top coated with a smudge proof coating to enhance smudge resistance when printing with computers or typewriters. Smudgeproof Kimdura offers exceptional thermal transfer printing properties because of its extreme smoothness.

Term: Smudgeproof Latex
Description: A roll pressure sensitive face stock that is latex impregnated and coated with a top coating to improve smudge resistance when printing on computers and typewriters.

Term: Solvent
Description: A chemical substance capable of dissolving another material.

Term: Solvent Resistance
Description: The resistance of a pressure sensitive label to the action of specific organic liquids.

Term: Source Marking
Description: The process of labeling an item with a bar code at the point of its initial production.

Term: SPC
Description: Abbreviation for Statistical Process Control. See Statistical Process Control.

Term: Specific Adhesion
Description: The adhesive’s ability to stick to a surface. Many adhesives will bond well to one type of surface, but poorly to another. Specific adhesion is usually tested by measuring the force needed to peel the adhesive coated label from a specific surface. The attraction of label and substrate based on the molecular attraction of adhesive and substrate. The force required to remove a pressure sensitive adhesive from a specific substrate under specified conditions.

Term: Split Back
Description: Cuts through the release liner for the purpose of removal of the liner. These cuts are all the way through the liner rather than compressed scores which only weaken the liner, but do not break it.

Term: Split Face
Description: Cuts in the face stock all the way through the face stock for the purpose of removing the label. This is also called a face split.

Term: Spot
Description: The undesirable presence of ink or dirt in a space.

Term: Spot Label
Description: A label that does not extend completely around a substrate. Usually on round containers, spot labels are less than 1/2 the circumference.

Term: SPRR Second Pass Read Rate
Description: The ratio of the number of successful. reads to the number of attempts on the second effort.

Term: Spunbond Polyolefin
Description: Describes a synthetic plastic material formed by the random distribution of very fine continuous fibers which are self bonded by heat and pressure.

Term: Stability
Description: Property which allows an adhesive to be stored under specified conditions without loss of its original properties.

Term: Stabilize
Description: To increase the steadiness of a film, keeping it from changing or fluctuating.

Term: STAC
Description: Symbol Technical Advisory Committee to the Uniform Code Council, Inc. see Uniform Code Council.

Term: Standard
Description: A set of rules, specifications, instructions and directions to use a bar code or other automatic identification system to your profit. Usually issued by an organization, e.g. LOGMARS, HIBCC, UPC, etc.

Term: Static Cling
Description: An induced property of a film which enables it to grab onto a smooth, clean surface without the using an adhesive.

Term: Stencil
Description: A marking machine industry term referring to printing with a paper stencil. Impact printing removes part of the stencil coating permitting the ink to transfer to the paper where the image will be. Generally this type of printing needs a very absorbent paper because inks dry by absorption rather than oxidation. 20# Mimeo is a suitable face stock for this type of printing.

Term: Stiffness
Description: The measure or degree of resistance to bending stress of a material.

Term: Stretch
Description: The elongation of a strip of paper when subjected to a tensile pull.

Term: Strip Coated
Description: Pressure sensitive coating when product is not fully adhesive coated. It is the same as strip gummed except that it is done with pressure sensitive adhesives rather than water sensitive. See strip gummed.

Term: Strip Gummed
Description: Water sensitive product which is not fully coated with adhesive. There is a strip or strips of adhesive in the machine direction of the product. Strip gumming is used in applications in which only part of the product is going to become a label. Frequently, the printer will perforate the product at the edge of adhesive so that the label can be removed. We can only strip gum in the machine direction of the paper. While less adhesive is used in strip gummed product, the product is more expensive for several reasons. First it is a specialty product. Second we frequently have to run this type of product at slower production speeds than fully coated material. It also needs more set up time and causes more waste than fully gummed materials.

Term: Stub Roll
Description: A short roll of face stock or label stock. Sample rolls are sometimes called stub rolls.

Term: Substance
Description: The weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to a given size. The standard sized ream varies with different grades of paper according to trade customs.

Term: Substrate
Description: The surface to which a material (adhesive) is applied. Also the surface on which a bar code symbol is printed.

Term: Subsurface Printing
Description: Printing the underside of a transparent film. ultimately the ink will be sandwiched between the film that was printed and the film or surface to which it is applied.

Term: Sunlight Resistance
Description: The ability of a material to resist the deteriorating effects of sunlight, especially those wavelengths in the ultraviolet and infra-red ends of the spectrum.

Term: Sunlight Resistance
Description: Another term for UV resistance. It is the ability of a material to resist deteriorating effects of sunlight.

Term: Super Calendered
Description: An off line paper manufacturing process used to alter the surface of a paper. It is constructed on the same general principle as a calendered paper, except that alternate chilled cast-iron and soft rolls are used. It improves the smoothness and gloss level of the paper.

Term: Surface Energy
Description: A numerical expression in dynes/cm of the cohesive energy of the surface molecules.

Term: Surface Preparation
Description: The physical and chemical methods used to prepare a surface for further processing.

Term: Synthetics
Description: Those materials developed and manufactured through chemistry, which tend to replace natural materials.

Term: Taber
Description: Equipment used to measure the stiffness of paper. See also stiffness.

Term: Tack
Description: The property od a pressure sensitive adhesive which causes it to adhere to a substrate with a minimum of pressure and time.

Term: Tack Range
Description: The time during which an adhesive remains tacky.

Term: Tackifier
Description: A material added to an adhesive to improve the initial and extended tack range of the adhesive.

Term: Tackiness
Description: The stickiness of the adhesive while in the stage of drying.

Term: Tackified Acrylic Adhesive
Description: Acrylic adhesives to which tackifying agents were added. The tackifying agents boost quick stick of the acrylic adhesive.

Term: Tamper Evident
Description: See tamperproof.

Term: Tamper-Evident Label
Description: A pressure sensitive label construction made of materials that will partially district, indicating that a package, label or container has been tampered with.

Term: Tamperproof
Description: Destructible. a pressure sensitive material which can not be removed intact from a substrate and reused.

Term: Tamperproof Label
Description: A pressure sensitive construction made with a face stock having a low strength so that attempted removal of the label will usually result in destruction of the label. In recent years this type of label is named tamper-evident rather than tamperproof. Tamper-evident labels are designed for the same purpose, but the name recognizes the difficulty in designing anything that is totally tamperproof.

Term: Tappi
Description: An abbreviation for Technical Association of the Paper and Pulp Industry.

Term: Tc
Description: Abbreviation for top coating. See top coating.

Term: Tc Thermal
Description: A face stock that is direct thermal coated and has a protective top coating. The protective top coating improves its resistance to image darkening from various liquids.

Term: Tcs
Description: Transport Case Symbol.

Term: Tear
Description: Tear strength is tested to determine the uniformity of refining, the length and formation of fibers in paper. The strength can be important to the printer or converter. Elmendorf tearing tester is the test instrument. Normally testing is done machine direction and cross direction. See also Elmendorf, machine direction and cross direction.

Term: Tedlar(R)
Description: Dupont’s trademark for biaxially oriented polyvinyl fluoride. a durable, chemical resistant, protective film.

Term: Telescoping
Description: A sideways sliding of label layers from a wound roll that gives a funnel or telescope appearance.

Term: Tensile Strength
Description: Indicates the amount of pull necessary to break the paper. It is measured in machine direction MD and cross machine direction CD. Generally this is a measure of paper strength. It is measured numerically and the higher the number the stronger the paper. Minimum MD and CD tensile strength standards are set for all incoming papers.

Term: Texoprint(R)
Description: A Kimberly-Clark base stock that is latex impregnated. It differs from Duraform(r) Latex by heavier weight and a greater amount of latex impregnation. Texoprint(r) is more durable than latex, but is more expensive.

Term: Thermage
Description: A trademark for a decorating process for plastic which transfers the image of a label to the object under the influence of heat and light pressure.

Term: Thermal
Description: A printing system where dots are selectively heated and cooled on heat sensitive paper. The paper turns dark in the heated areas.

Term: Thermal Transfer
Description: A type of non impact printing in which heat is applied to a wax or resin ribbon. The ribbon transfers ink to paper. Eliminates the problems of fading or changing color inherent in thermal.

Term: Thermoplastic
Description: Capable of being melted or deformed by the application of heat.

Term: Thermosetting Adhesives
Description: Adhesives which set up or harden when heated.

Term: Thickness
Description: The distance from one side of the material to the other. This is another term for caliper or gauge.

Term: Tie Coat
Description: One layer of a coating system used to improve the adhesion of adjacent or succeeding coats.

Term: Tilt
Description: Rotation of a bar code symbol about an axis perpendicular to the substrate.

Term: Tipping
Description: A process of applying a piggy back label to a business form automatically. Frequently piggy back labels are automatically applied with Label Aire labeling heads that are part of larger equipment that insures that the label will apply in the same place on each form.

Term: Tolerance
Description: The specified allowance for deviations in weighing, measuring, etc. or deviations from the standard dimensions or weight. Most coating properties have a target value, a low acceptable tolerance and a high acceptable tolerance.

Term: Toluene
Description: A commercial solvent used in the manufacture of some water sensitive adhesives, particularly dry gum.

Term: Top Coating
Description: A coating done on top of a face stock to improve ink receptivity, or to make the label more durable. Nitrocellulose is used as a top coating for offset printing. Acrylic top coated material will not offset print well. On the other hand, acrylic top coatings are compatible with both water based and solvent flexo inks. Top coating on direct thermal protects the label from liquids that could darken the image. Some films are also top coated to enhance printing characteristics.

Term: Topcoat
Description: A surface treatment or coating on the surface of a material which enhances ink receptivity.

Term: Trademarks
Description: A number of trademarks appear in this help file. They include. Texoprint(r), Duraform(r), Kimdura(r) and Satin-L(r) are trademarks of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Tyvek(r) is a trademark of Dupont. Opticite(r) is a registered trademark of the Dow Chemical Company. Die Life II(r) is a registered trademark of Miami Valley Papers. NCR Paper(tm) is a trademark of NCR Corporation licensed to Appleton Papers, Inc. Microsoft(r), Windows(r) and Microsoft Access(r) are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Term: Transfer Tape
Description: A pressure sensitive tape with a liner release coated on both sides. It is applied to a plain paper and the adhesive transfers to the plain paper. Eventually the end user removes the liner and the adhesive stays with the paper to which the transfer tape was attached. The end product is similar to strip coated pressure sensitive. While transfer tape is expensive on a MSI basis, the user needs less of it than if he bought a strip coated construction.

Term: Translucent
Description: Transmitting light in a diffuse manner so that objects beyond cannot be clearly distinguished.

Term: Transparency
Description: That property of a material which transmits light so that objects can be directly seen through the material.

Term: Trim
Description: The maximum width of finished paper which can be made on a particular machine. It also refers to material cut off the edges of rolls.

Term: Truckload
Description: 40,000 lb. shipments usually make up a truckload in water or heat sensitive paper. Users of roll pressure sensitive usually consider a shipment of 140 MMSI a truckload. Sometimes this is abbreviated TL or T/L.

Term: Tunneling
Description: A defect occurring when laminates are incompletely bonded. It is characterized by release of longitudinal portions of the substrate and deformation of these portions to form tunnel-like structures.

Term: Tyvek(R)
Description: Dupont’s trademark for spunbonded polyolefin material frequently used as a facestock where very high tensile strength is required.

Term: U.L. Approved
Description: A group of pressure sensitive constructions that have been approved by Underwriters Laboratory for certain applications.

Term: UCC
Description: Uniform Code Council, formerly Uniform Product Code Council; the organization which administers the UPC and other retail standards. Address: 8163 Old Yankee Road, Suite J, Dayton, OH 45458.

Term: UCS
Description: Uniform Container Symbol.

Term: UI
Description: An abbreviation for Underwriters Laboratory. This organization approves label materials for electrical product applications. They also approve label materials for ladders. Label materials designated as U.L. approved were tested and found to meet specific requirements. The least stringent approval is called type L and classification marker approval. U.L. tests samples against stainless steel panels to make sure that attempted removal will result in label destruction. U.L. also approves label materials for specific applications and substrates.

Term: Ultimate Adhesion
Description: The maximum adhesion available from a pressure sensitive adhesive determined by the force necessary to remove a strip of tape from a surface after an extended period of time.

Term: Ultraviolet
Description: The zone of invisible radiations beyond the violet end of the visible light spectrum. UV is the abbreviation. UV wavelengths are shorter than visible slight and have more energy that can cause degradation.

Term: Un-Bleached
Description: Paper or pulp which has not been treated with bleaching agents.

Term: Uncoated Litho
Description: A roll pressure sensitive face stock which does not have a clay printing coating. The print surface is relatively rough and print quality is not as high as with clay coated face stocks.

Term: Uncoated Paper
Description: Could have two meanings. It could represent any paper that does not have adhesive. It could also represent a type of paper that does not have any clay coating. All of the paper is made from pulp. The meaning would depend on the context in which it is used. See also coated paper.

Term: Under-Run
Description: Production or delivery that is less than the quantity ordered by the customer. Over-run is the opposite. All of Technicote products have published shipment tolerances. Product is not considered under-run or over-run unless the difference exceeds those tolerances.

Term: Underwriters Laboratory
Description: The full name for U.L. See UL

Term: Untrimmed
Description: Paper rewound without slitting off a trim edge.

Term: Upcc
Description: Universal Product Code, the standard bar code symbol for retail food packages in the United States. It encodes a 12-digit number assigned to specific consumer units of general trade items. The first 6 digits are assigned by the UCC. The next 5 digits are assigned by the manufacturer. The final digit is a check digit.

Term: UPCC
Description: Universal Product Carton Code; a standard administered by the UCC.

Term: USS
Description: Uniform Symbol Specification. The current series of symbology specifications published by AIM; currently includes USS-I 2/5, USS-39, USS-93, USS-Codabar and USS-128. USS-I 2/5. There is no inter-character gap in a continuous code.

Term: UTT
Description: An abbreviation for uncoated thermal transfer. See also CTT, Thermal Transfer CTT, thermal transfer and Thermal Transfer UTT.

Term: UV Resistance
Description: The ability of any material to withstand extended exposure to sunlight without degradation, hardening or discoloring.

Term: UV Varnish
Description: Lacquer or varnish usually applied over the printed web used as a protective layer that is cured by exposure to a high intensity ultra violet light source

Term: Variable Length Code
Description: A code whose number of encoded characters can be within a range, as opposed to a code with a fixed number of encoded characters.

Term: Vegetable Gum
Description: A class of adhesives derived from plants or plant material.

Term: Vellum Finish
Description: A full, toothy finish which is relatively absorbent for fast ink penetration. Text papers in books frequently have a vellum finish. Vellum would not be as smooth as a smooth offset or English Finish grade.

Term: Verifier
Description: A device that makes measurements of the bars, spaces, quiet zones and optical characteristics of a symbol to determine if the symbol meets the requirements of a specification or standard.

Term: Vertical Bar Code
Description: A bar code pattern presented in such orientation that the symbol from start to stop is perpendicular to the horizon. The individual bars are in an array appearing as rungs of a ladder.

Term: Vinyl
Description: Synthetic plastic products manufactured in rigid or flexible constructions. also known as PVC. tough, durable film having excellent resistance to oils, chemicals and many solvents. it can also be colored.

Term: Viscosimeter
Description: An instrument for measuring the viscosity or resistance to flow of a liquid.

Term: Viscosity
Description: The tendency of liquids to flow. The main unit of measure is centipoise. See also centipoise.

Term: Void
Description: In coatings, a bare uncoated area on a film. In bar codes the undesirable absence of ink in a bar.

Term: Wall Thickness
Description: The difference between the inside diameter or id and the outside diameter or OD of a tube or core. Thick walls would offer more strength than thin walls.

Term: Waste
Description: See matrix. This can also refer to sub standard material that needs to be thrown out as a result of production process. A printer could complain, for example, that his waste levels were too high as a result of a defect in the material.

Term: Water Sensitive
Description: A water moistenable adhesive that activates when water is applied. There are two major types of water sensitive adhesives — dry gum and conventional gum. Generally water sensitive adhesives only stick to paper and paper products. Some will adhere well to glass. See also dry gum and conventional gum.

Term: Water Soluble Adhesive
Description: A pressure sensitive adhesive in which all components are water soluble. Sometimes this is referred to as a wash away adhesive.

Term: Waterproof
Description: A relative term applied to papers which have been heavily treated or laminated to resist moisture. See moisture resistance.

Term: Weatherability
Description: The capability of a pressure sensitive label to withstand the effects of weather.

Term: Web
Description: A continuous sheet of pliable manufactured material, usually in roll form.

Term: Wedge
Description: A device that plugs in between a keyboard and a terminal. It allows data to be entered either by keyboard or by various types of scanners.

Term: Wet Strength
Description: The tensile strength of paper if it is wetted after manufacture. Wet strength is increased by adding certain synthetic resins to the furnish.

Term: Wetting
Description: The relative ability of a liquid adhesive to flow uniformly over the substrate.

Term: Whiteness
Description: The degree of approach of the color to that of the ideal white. High whiteness is associated with low purity and high visual efficiency. Hue, saturation and brightness of color have a bearing on apparent whiteness.

Term: Wicking
Description: The tendency of a liquid to travel through paper.

Term: Wire
Description: The moving screen at the wet end of a paper machine where the sheet is formed.

Term: Wire Side
Description: Paper is made on a continuous horizontal wire called a Fourdrinier. The side of the paper that comes in contact with the wire takes on the impression of the pattern of the wire. The felt side would be the opposite side of the paper. The wire side is not as smooth as the felt side. Generally we coat adhesives on the wire side. This allows the print surface to be as smooth as possible.

Term: Wrap-Around Label
Description: A label that extends completely around a container. Usually there is an overlap of label to label.

Term: Yellowing
Description: A defect manifested by a gradual color change in the original appearance of a pressure sensitive label.

Term: # Pt. Tag
Description: A paper stock which has a semigloss finish and is 8 mils thick. Opacity is high because of its thickness. Can be use as a silicone liner unsupported paper or as a pressure sensitive face stock and often used when stiffness is important.