What is the difference between removable, permanent and high-tack adhesive? – Sticker it

Removable, permanent & high-tack adhesives all refer to how strong the glue on the back of your stickers or labels are.

We also refer to them; low, medium, and high strength adhesives.

A popular measure of strength is 'peel adhesion' (read more here). Typical values for each category of adhesive are:

Removable adhesive = less than 19 N/25mm (1")
Permanent adhesive = 20-28 N/25mm (1")
High-tack adhesive = 29 N/25mm (1") and up

The most common adhesive used on stickers & labels is an acrylic, solvent-based, pressure-sensitive adhesive. Pressure-sensitive means they stick more when more pressure is applied.

Manufacturers of self-adhesive label materials will vary the strength of the glue in 2 ways:

The tackiness of their adhesive
The thickness of the adhesive

To increase the tackiness, manufacturers use a slightly different adhesive formulation that will stick more.

However, the 2nd way manufacturers vary the strength is through-thickness.; this sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.

Most adhesive coatings on the back of labels are approximately 20 GSM; this can increase to over 40 GSM for heavy-duty purposes. Especially where the surface that's stuck too is rough.

If only 40% of the label's glue touches the surface, adding more adhesive to fill the gaps works brilliantly.

Here's some further reading if you want to learn more about adhesives used for labels & stickers:

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