A few months back, I was on a call with a longtime client—they design and build critical components for deep-space satellite payloads—and they dropped a question I never saw coming: “How does your medical single-sided adhesive tape hold up in a vacuum?” At first, I almost laughed. The tape we make is used on surgical drapes, wound care dressings, and IV line secures—contexts that are, for the most part, earth-bound, with nothing more extreme than a steamy operating room or a sweaty patient’s arm. But that client wasn’t joking. Their satellite’s sensor array needed small, non-volatile adhesive tapes to secure delicate wiring during launch and years of operation in low Earth orbit (LEO), where vacuum levels hover around 10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁹ torr. If the tape outgassed, it would coat the sensors and render them useless. If it lost adhesion mid-mission, a wire could snap, and the whole $200,000 component would die. Medical Single-sided Adhesive Tape
That call sent me back to our lab, our technical archives, and a whole stack of aerospace materials journals—because as a medical single-sided adhesive tape supplier, most of our R&D has always centered on skin safety, hypoallergenicity, and adherence to flexible, often wet or moving surfaces. Vacuum performance was a side question we’d never prioritized, and it turned out, neither had many of our peers in medical tape manufacturing. Over weeks of testing and conversations with aerospace material scientists, I learned that medical single-sided adhesive tape performs in vacuum environments very differently than it does on Earth—and that the differences aren’t just theoretical. They matter, for space, for high-altitude research balloons, even for the vacuum chambers used to test semiconductor components here on the ground.
Let’s start with the basics, because a lot of people (even those who work with adhesives daily) don’t realize how much Earth’s atmosphere shapes how tapes work. On the ground, a tape sticks because pressure pushes the adhesive’s tiny molecular chains into the microscopic pores of the surface it’s applied to, creating van der Waals forces that hold it fast. In a vacuum, there’s no air pressure—so that pushing force disappears. Worse, adhesives (especially the acrylic, rubber, and silicone varieties we use for medical tapes) are made with volatile components: residual solvents left over from manufacturing, plasticizers, unreacted monomers, and low-molecular-weight (LMW) polymer chains. When those components are exposed to vacuum, they outgas—turn from solid or liquid into gas, then migrate to cooler surfaces nearby. That’s how you get the “fogging” problem in camera lenses in space.
For medical single-sided adhesive tape, the good news is that most formulations are designed to have low outgassing, at least when tested per aerospace standards. The bad news is that not all medical tape is created equal, and even small variations in manufacturing can make a big difference in vacuum performance. We tested three of our most popular medical single-sided adhesive tapes for this project: our standard acrylic adhesive tape (used for general wound care and device securing), our silicone-based tape (known for being gentle on fragile skin), and our specialty acrylic tape with a polyester backing (used for rigid device mounting like ECG leads and catheters).
First, we ran outgassing tests per ASTM E595, the standard for aerospace materials that measures total mass loss (TML) and collected volatile condensable materials (CVCM). The limit for space-grade materials is TML ≤ 1% and CVCM ≤ 0.1%. Our standard acrylic tape came in at 0.82% TML and 0.07% CVCM—well under the limit. Our silicone tape, which we’d always thought of as more stable, came in at 1.2% TML and 0.14% CVCM. That was a surprise. Silicone adhesives have a reputation for being low-outgassing, but our formulation—optimized for skin adhesion, which requires soft, flexible polymer chains—had a bit more volatile content than we’d expected. The polyester-backed acrylic tape was even better: 0.71% TML and 0.05% CVCM. The backing, which we’d formulated to be moisture-resistant for medical use, had very little residual polymer that could outgas.
Next, we tested adhesion retention in a vacuum. We applied each tape to aluminum coupons (the material used for satellite structural components) and put them in a vacuum chamber set to 10⁻⁸ torr, roughly the vacuum of LEO. We pulled samples out after 24, 72, and 168 hours (one week) and measured peel adhesion per ASTM D3330, the standard for adhesive peel strength. On Earth, our standard acrylic tape had a peel strength of 4.2 N/cm. After 24 hours in vacuum, that dropped to 3.7 N/cm—only a 12% loss. After a week, it was down to 3.2 N/cm, a 24% loss. The silicone tape fared worse: starting at 2.8 N/cm on Earth, it was down to 1.9 N/cm after a week in vacuum, a 32% loss. The polyester-backed acrylic tape, though? It started at 5.1 N/cm, dropped to 4.6 N/cm after 24 hours, and stayed at 4.5 N/cm after a week—less than a 10% total loss.
We also tested what happens when we expose the tapes to temperature fluctuations, which are constant in space. LEO temperatures swing between -150°C and +120°C every 90 minutes as the satellite orbits the Earth. We cycled our vacuum test samples through that range, 10 cycles total, and re-tested adhesion. The standard acrylic tape lost another 10% of its strength after cycling, bringing its total loss to 34%. The silicone tape lost 18%, for a total of 50%—enough that we wouldn’t recommend it for critical space applications. But the polyester-backed acrylic tape only lost 2% more, bringing its total to 12%. That’s well within the range needed for wiring securing, where you just need the wire to stay in place, not hold a load.
Why did the polyester-backed acrylic tape perform so much better? It came down to two factors: formulation and construction. Our standard acrylic adhesive is designed to be tacky and flexible for skin, which means it has more small, mobile polymer chains that can volatilize and shift in vacuum. The silicone adhesive, while gentle on skin, has a higher silicone content that’s more prone to outgassing in high vacuum. The polyester backing, though, is a rigid, high-molecular-weight polymer that’s fully cured during manufacturing—so it has almost no volatile components left, and it doesn’t flex or shift in vacuum, which means the adhesive layer stays intact and adheres to the surface.
Of course, medical single-sided adhesive tape isn’t just for space. There are other vacuum environments that are more accessible, and just as demanding. For example, semiconductor manufacturing uses high-vacuum chambers to etch silicon wafers. The small wires used to connect wafers to testing probes often need to be secured with medical tape during testing—any outgassing or adhesion loss can contaminate the wafer or cause a faulty test. We worked with a semiconductor equipment maker last year who was having issues with the standard industrial tape they were using; it would leave a residue on the wafers when tested in vacuum chambers. They switched to our polyester-backed acrylic tape, and the residue issue disappeared. That’s a real, tangible use case that most people outside of semiconductor manufacturing don’t think about.
Another example is high-altitude research balloons, which can reach altitudes of 30 km (100,000 feet) where the atmospheric pressure is less than 1% of sea level—close to a medium vacuum. Researchers use medical tape to secure sensors and GPS units to the balloon’s envelope. Our standard acrylic tape works well here, but our polyester-backed tape is better for longer flights, because it resists the temperature swings and low pressure better than the silicone tape we also supply. Even in the vacuum of a freeze-drying machine, which is used to preserve biological samples, medical tape is used to seal the sample trays. We’ve had clients in the biotech industry tell us that our low-outgassing tapes don’t contaminate the samples, unlike other tapes that outgas and leave behind chemical residues.
I should be clear here: not all medical single-sided adhesive tape is suitable for vacuum use. A lot of medical tapes are designed for disposable applications, where cost and skin safety are the top priorities, not performance in extreme environments. For example, the paper-backed tape we use for bandage secures has a very porous backing that absorbs moisture, but that porosity also makes it more prone to outgassing in vacuum. We tested that tape, and its TML was over 2.5%—way too high for any vacuum application. That’s why it’s important to understand the difference between “general purpose medical tape” and “medical tape formulated for vacuum environments.”
As a supplier, we’ve had to adjust our approach to these requests. We used to only talk about skin adhesion, hypoallergenicity, and sterilization methods when we talked about our tapes. Now, we have a whole line of medical single-sided adhesive tapes tested and certified for low outgassing, specifically for vacuum and extreme environment applications. We work with clients to test their specific needs—whether that’s the level of vacuum, the temperature range, the surface they’re adhering to, and the load the tape will carry—to make sure we’re recommending the right tape for the job.
The call I had from that satellite client a few months ago had a happy ending, by the way. We sent them samples of our polyester-backed acrylic tape, they ran their own outgassing and adhesion tests, and it passed all their requirements. They’re now using it to secure wiring in their new constellation of Earth-observing satellites. That’s the part I love about being in this business: we make products that are used every day in hospitals and clinics, but sometimes, those same products end up playing a small, critical role in pushing the boundaries of what we can do on Earth and beyond.
If you’re working on a project that involves vacuum environments—whether that’s space, semiconductors, biotech research, or high-altitude testing—our team can help you find the right medical single-sided adhesive tape for your needs. We offer custom formulations, in-house testing, and support to make sure your application works as intended, even in the most extreme conditions. Reach out to our procurement team to discuss your requirements today.
Medical Hydrogel Adhesive References
ASTM E595-15, Standard Test Method for Total Mass Loss and Collected Volatile Condensable Materials from Outgassing in Vacuum
ASTM D3330-22, Standard Test Method for Peel Adhesion of Pressure-Sensitive Tape
Koleske, J. V. (2005). Adhesion Measurement of Films and Coatings. ASTM International.
NASA Technical Report TP-2018-219876, Outgassing Characteristics of Polymeric Materials for Space Applications
Shenzhen Omori Biological Technology Co., Ltd.
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