Labeling Smart Tubes

 

Manual Labeling:

If you use a Sharpie to write onto the textured surface on the side of the Smart Tube you shouldn't encounter problems with water (though the ink is soluble in alcohol).  Here's an example of labeling with a Sharpie --- the ink could not be rubbed off even when rubbed under water:

If using adhesive labels, we highly recommend:

• Labels designed to adhere to low surface energy plastics (the Smart Tubes are made of polyethylene) and that are designed for cryogenic temperatures as these tend to work best to adhere to the Smart Tubes and stay attached through -80C storage and shipping on dry ice
• Labels that are long enough that they can wrap all the way around the Smart Tube and partially overlap themselves so that the label can stick to itself.  Typically, the adhesives stick better to the surface of the labels themselves than to the surface of the Smart Tubes

The following page shows a labeling approach when using labels that are not long enough to stick to themselves.  This approach secures the label to the side of the tube with a simple, but effective spiral application of tape:
https://smarttubeinc.com/sp1/psp_p2.htm

The page was put together in conjunction with an academic group that, in part because they were not using Base Stations to simplify sample handling, required very clear visual instructions. Their clinical study used many thousands of Smart Tubes across locations in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zanzibar so the visual instructions ended up being very helpful.

High-throughput Labeling:

Smart Tubes are compatible with the Tubewriter printer:  https://tubewriter.com

It is recommended that you fixture the Smart Tubes to that you can print onto the textured surface on the side of the Smart Tubes. The fixture should hold the Smart Tube such that the textured surface is completely horizontal under the tube writer print head. While the ink requires almost no drying time to be resistant to being rubbed off, it also becomes increasingly resistant to being rubbed off over time.

Because standard Smart Tubes do not incorporate a laser-markable additives incorporated into the plastic, laser marking is more difficult but not impossible.  For example, tests with a UV laser (brand: DPSS) showed that both the body of the Smart Tubes and the cap of the Smart Tubes could be marked with a UV laser:

Technical Info:

Smart Tubes are made of polyethylene which is a low-energy plastic.  This makes it difficult for some labels to stick.  Labels that use an adhesive designed for low-energy plastics are more likely to adhere properly, but the Smart Tube surface must be free of condensation and should be at or above room temperature. 

Wiping polyethylene with high concentration isopropanol can increase surface energy and improve label adhesion and ink adhesion. 

Treating polyethylene with corona discharge plasma, vacuum plasma and flame plasma can all temporarily increase the surface energy to a much greater degree than can be achieved with isopropanol.  These methods have been found to greatly increase the adhesion of labels and ink to Smart Tubes.

Tags: labeling, labelling, labels not sticking, barcode labels, barcoding, sample banking