How to choose.
Polyimide film — widely known by the brand name Kapton — is the high-temperature specialist of the tape rack. Its amber film stays dimensionally stable and electrically insulating through soldering and coating processes that would soften or shrink polyester, which is why it dominates electronics manufacturing and the hot end of industrial finishing.
Core applications
PCB masking during wave soldering and conformal coating is the classic use: gold-finger tape protecting edge connectors is polyimide. In industrial coating, polyimide earns its premium wherever cure schedules run above PET's ~204°C ceiling, or where a thin, precise, high-temperature mask is needed on small features. Die-cut polyimide shapes and dots handle repetitive masking of connector pads and keep-out zones far faster than hand-cut tape.
When PET is the better buy
Polyimide costs several times more than PET per roll. If your oven never exceeds 200°C and you are masking ordinary metalwork, green PET tape gives the same clean release for far less. Reserve polyimide for genuine high-heat duty and electronics-grade requirements — that is what it is priced for.
Specifying polyimide tape
Tell us the peak temperature and dwell, the substrate, and whether the application is electrical. Roll widths and die-cut shapes are both standard; for PCB work, specify the connector or pad geometry and we will quote matching die-cuts.
