"Removable" is not one property. A label that lifts cleanly from glass after a week can weld itself to painted metal in a hot warehouse, and the same construction will tear corrugate rather than release from it. What decides the outcome is dwell time, substrate and temperature — in that order.
Model guide · last verified 2026-10-21 · published in English · technical questions: contact the lab
Every removable adhesive has a dwell curve. In the first hours it releases easily; over weeks the adhesive continues to wet out the surface, the contact area grows, and the force needed to remove it climbs. On some substrates the curve flattens at "still removable"; on others it does not, and what was removable in March is permanent by September.
That is why "is it removable?" is the wrong question. The useful question is "removable from what surface, after how long, at what temperature". Ask it of us and of any other supplier; the answer will change the material.
The second factor is cohesion — the adhesive's internal strength. Peel a label and the adhesive should stay in one piece and leave with the facestock. If it splits, part of it stays on the container, and that is a residue complaint even though the label "came off".
The same removable construction behaves completely differently across surfaces, because adhesion is a surface-energy problem. Low-energy surfaces such as polyethylene and polypropylene need a more aggressive adhesive to hold at all; high-energy surfaces such as glass and clean metal bond readily and release cleanly; rough or fibrous surfaces such as corrugate hold mechanically as well as chemically, so a low-tack adhesive can tear the surface on removal.
Rough surfaces are the trap. A removable label on corrugate will often pull fibres rather than release, which looks like a material fault and is not one.
The codes below carry a removable adhesive in the current range. Facestock and liner are exactly as stated on the TDS.
| Code | Facestock | Adhesive | Liner | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FL0201W21 | 100 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 80 gsm white glassine | Rigid containers and shelf-edge promotion where the label comes off at delisting |
| FL0202W21 | 100 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 80 gsm white glassine | Same family, different coat; pick one and keep it in the spec |
| FL0203W21 | 75 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 80 gsm white glassine | Thinner film for curved and squeezable packs |
| FL0205W21 | 75 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | General promotion label on a lighter liner for cost |
| FL0207W21 | 25 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Lowest profile; for tight radii and near-invisible edges |
| FL0211W21 | 60 mic glossy white BOPP film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Mid-range film for reusable crates and returnable packaging |
| FL0303W21 | 100 mic glossy white PET film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Where the label must stay dimensionally flat through removal |
| FL0314W21 | 75 mic glossy white PET film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Heat and chemical exposure with clean removal |
| FL0316W21 | 36 mic glossy white PET film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Thin, stiff film for flat panels and equipment labels |
| FL0317W21 | 75 mic glossy white PET film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | General PET removable for durable goods |
| FL0401W21 | 80 mic white PE film | Removable | 60 gsm white glassine | Squeezable packs, bags and irregular surfaces |
This is the widest single adhesive family in our range — 11 constructions — because removable work is usually decided by the container, not by the adhesive.
Start from the surface, then the dwell time, then the shape of the pack. The film thickness is the last decision, not the first.
| If this is your situation | Start with | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Smooth glass or lacquered metal, weeks to months | FL0205W21 — 75 mic BOPP, removable | Clean release on high-energy surfaces; film stays flat as it comes off |
| Curved or squeezable bottle | FL0203W21 — 75 mic BOPP | Conformability; a 100 mic film lifts at the curve on removal |
| Very tight radius or small label | FL0207W21 — 25 mic BOPP | Lowest bending stiffness in the removable family |
| Equipment label that must stay flat after removal | FL0316W21 — 36 mic PET | PET does not stretch on peel, so the label does not distort |
| Squeezable bag, film surface | FL0401W21 — 80 mic PE | PE matches the flexibility of the pack |
| Returnable crate, repeated cycles | FL0211W21 — 60 mic BOPP, then test the cycles | Re-stick performance over repeated cycles is an ageing question — test it, do not assume it |
Residue complaints are the expensive ones, because they usually surface after the labels have been applied to thousands of units.
Symptom: the label comes off but leaves a ghost or a tacky patch. Cause: cohesion failure — the adhesive split instead of releasing — usually because the dwell time exceeded the removable window, or the pack was stored hot. Fix: test removal at the real end-of-life interval, not the day after application, and move to a lower-tack construction if the window is genuinely that long.
Symptom: edges lift within a day on a curved or low-energy surface. Cause: too little tack for that substrate — removable does not mean low tack on every surface. Fix: a higher-tack removable construction, or a thinner film that follows the curve.
Symptom: the label will not come off corrugate without destroying the surface. Cause: mechanical keying into a fibrous surface, not an adhesive fault. Fix: accept that removable on corrugate is usually not achievable, or change the label position to a lacquered area.
Symptom: samples release cleanly in the QA room, the production batch does not in a hot warehouse. Cause: temperature accelerates wet-out, so the dwell curve moves left. Fix: run the removal test at your real storage temperature, not at 23 °C.
Apply the label to the actual substrate, not to a glass slide. Store it at the real temperature and humidity. Remove it at the real end-of-life interval, at the real removal angle and speed. Then look at both the container and the back of the label: residue on the container is an adhesive transfer, and a tacky back means the adhesive is still on the label and the construction was fine.
Those two observations separate a material problem from an expectation problem, and they take a week to produce. It is the cheapest test in this whole guide.
Answered by the coating and conversion team, not by marketing.
Cold chain plus re-positionable: the two requirements interact, and the order of testing matters.
Removable adhesives are softer, so liner and winding tension have less margin than on permanent work.
A removable adhesive behaves differently at a laser kerf — check the edge before a production run.
Where removable labels are used across beverage, cosmetics, logistics and electronics.
Tell us the substrate, the dwell time and the storage temperature; we will match the construction.
Why a permanent system cannot be made removable, and how the five families divide the work.