3M (NYSE: MMM) announces the debut of 3M VHB Extrudable Tape, a new manufacturing bonding solution that brings elevated levels of automation, simplicity, and sustainability across industries. This end-to-end bonding solution combines all the benefits of 3M VHB Tapes with the versatility of a liquid adhesive in a single contained footprint enabling usage on any scale.
For more than 40 years, 3M VHB Tape has redefined manufacturing design and assembly processes, allowing users to bond industrial materials quickly, securely, and permanently without the use of unsightly mechanical fasteners such as screws or rivets. Initially used for bonding panels to the frames of specialty vehicles like ambulances and box trucks, this new bonding solution proved superior to other methods due to its ability to distribute stress loads across an entire surface instead of concentrating stress loads around each individual fastener. Today, 3M continues that legacy by extending its tape solutions even further, opening a new era of manufacturing capabilities enabled by heightened flexibility, increased throughput, simplified automation, and improved sustainability.
3M VHB Extrudable Tape combines the best qualities of high strength acrylic foam tape with the versatility of liquid adhesives without any of their inherent drawbacks. While liquid adhesives offer excellent versatility with the application, they can be messy, difficult to handle, increase waste, and require longer curing times, all factors that increase manufacturing time and overall costs. In contrast, the 3M™ On Demand Bonding System — designed to work with the Nordson ProBond System — eliminates liners and container waste while providing immediate material bonding and handling strength. These benefits help significantly streamline, simplify, and speed up production operations.
“3M VHB Extrudable Tape does things no tape or liquid adhesive could ever do”, says Patrick Meifert, Global Portfolio Director of 3M. “It’s an entirely new category of product and bonding solution for manufacturing innovation. This bonding system creates endless design and application possibilities at scale — whether you’re a global multinational or a local manufacturing business.”