Two surprising uses for Copper tape: Slug Repellent and Formula One

Copper tape is used for electromagnetic shielding to seal gaps on RFI sensitive enclosures and can be used to fix & seal ITO coated windows into their apertures. There are other uses of course, but two quite surprising applications spring to mind.

Copper Tape Slug Repellent

Yes, slugs… and snails too! These guys really do not like copper at all. Slugs and snail secrete mucus from their bodies (the slime trails that are visible). When passing over copper, this mucus reacts and causes a little electric shock.

Obviously, this makes for a great deterrent. Gardeners everywhere are now using self-adhesive copper tape on restricted areas of a garden, as well as plant pots, vegetable planters and the base of fruit tree trunks.

Copper tape is a simple but very effective tool to protect against unwanted slime producing visitors and an added bonus is that over time, the tape will turn green, blending into a garden environment perfectly.

Going from very slow-moving creatures to very fast moving vehicles…

Copper Tape and Formula One

Every time you see an F1 car pull in for a pitstop, if you look closely at the floor, you may spot a strip of copper wire close to the refuelling area. The copper tape is used to ground the vehicle and prevent any static charge.

The copper tape earthing strips are connected to the fuel rig to allow for a common grounding between the vehicle and the fuel rig. The reasoning behind this is pretty important – there may have been a possibility of static electricity discharging through the refuelling nozzle.

That would of course be catastrophic. FIA Technical Regulation 6.5.3 states: Before refuelling commences, the car connector must be connected electrically to earth.
All metal parts of the refuelling system from the coupling to the supply tank must also be connected to earth.

It’s great to see our products being used for multiple applications throughout the world, and clearly, copper tapes fall into this same bracket. Slugs and F1 in the same sentence – that has to be a first!

Diamond Coatings supply self-adhesive copper tape in lengths of 20 metres and are available in sizes ranging from 6mm up to 50mm (we can also produce further widths on request). Please view the range HERE.