The durability and signal performance of metal evaporated and metal particle tape

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the durability performance of two commercial Hi-8 video tapes, a metal evaporated (ME) tape and a metal particle (MP) tape. Mechanical and physical changes in the surface of the tapes have been correlated to recording error measurements. Modified and adapted commercial Hi-8 recorders have been used for all the mechanical measurements and for sample generation whilst X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been employed in the surface characterisation. The durability of the tapes was assessed through cycling tests and it was found that the MP tape exhibited far greater durability than the ME tape.