Question about DECtape formulation

[David Gesswein]

On Sun, Jan 23, 2022 at 03:09:53PM -0800, Gary Oliver wrote:

> Taking the bits of tape, I exposed them to various concentrations of
> isopropanol/water (from about 25% to 99% iso) and found than in all cases,
> some of the data side of the tape came off on the wipe.? The remaining tape
> fragment appears intact - the brown oxide was still there but both sides
> were now the same color, rather than the data side being darker (as were all
> my tapes before the test.)
> 

I had done the careful test to find something safe to clean DECtape. One
time I grabbed the wrong bottle and that removed the coating. Tape was now
totally unreadable in that location. Didn't have any luck with cleaning
helping data errors so stopped trying. This was a long time ago so I don't
remember if my incorrect cleaning result matched your description.