With All the VHB Tape Options, How Can You Select the Right Tape?
VHB tapes are used across many industries for an ever-increasing array of bonding applications. They are the ideal bonding solution in areas where traditional fasteners inhibit design, restrict material use or might even fail. These tapes are often used in:
Automotive industries for bonding interior and exterior trims
Construction for structural glazing, panel to frame assemblies
Electronics for assembling mobile devices
Attaching nameplates and assembling doors in appliances
Decorative attachment and stiffeners in signage
Bonding side panels to frames in smooth sided trailers.
With all these different applications, there are naturally hundreds of types of VHB tapes for manufacturers to choose from. We’re here to help you make the best choice for your application, all while considering its unique properties and specific demands.
First, What Are the Unique Properties of VHB Tapes?
VHB tapes are viscoelastic acrylic foam tapes with high strength acrylic adhesives that are known for their exceptional bonding strength and durability, making them ideal for a wide range of industrial applications including automotive, electronics, construction, and aerospace. While VHB tapes and PSA tapes are both used widely in various industries for bonding, sealing, and mounting applications, VHB tapes possess certain characteristics that make them more suitable for some applications:
Strong adhesive strength: VHB tapes provide a powerful, permanent bond that can replace mechanical fasteners. VHB tapes are known for their strong bonds, which provide handling strength immediately after application and continue to build strength over time.
Durability: VHB tapes can resist dynamic loads and tough environments, making them suitable for demanding industrial applications.
Conformability: Made from viscoelastic acrylic foam, VHB tapes can conform to irregular surfaces, providing a secure bond across different materials.
Viscoelasticity: VHB tapes can absorb shock and stress, making them ideal for applications involving thermal expansion and contraction or aggressive dynamic loads.
Chemical resistance: VHB tapes can withstand exposure to various chemicals, making them suitable for use in harsh environments.
Temperature resistance: the wide range of VHB tapes give you options for materials that perform well under temperatures, which is critical for applications in both hot and cold environments.
Vibration damping: VHB tapes absorb energy which reduces noise, harshness and vibrations (NVH).
Sealing properties: VHB tapes provide excellent sealing capabilities, preventing moisture and dust ingress.
Ease of application: They are easy to apply and require no special tools or equipment, reducing assembly time and costs.
Longevity: the durable materials that make VHB tapes allow them to last the length of the lifetime of the components they join.
Multi-material bonding capability: double-sided VHB tapes can effectively bond a variety of materials together, even if they are dissimilar. They also provide the design flexibility to leverage lighter weight substrates. These materials include glass, metal, plastics, painted and powder-coated surfaces, composite materials, and more.
What to Consider When Choosing VHB Tape
Where should you begin when selecting the right VHB tape for your application? If you want to get the best performance and longevity, start by considering the following:
Adhesive - Material Compatibility: ensure the tape is compatible with the surface energy of the substrates to which it will be applied. Ensuring material compatibility will maximize adhesion and help overall bond integrity.
Tape Thickness: a good rule of thumb is to choose a tape that is 50% of the thickness as the thinnest substrate being adhered. This helps ensure good surface contact between the tape and adhesive and ensures it can accommodate material expansion and contraction in use.
Load requirements: evaluate the joint design, weight, and types of loads the bond must withstand, including any dynamic forces that may be applied. A good rule of thumb is to use 4 square inches of tape per pound of dead load in an application.
Static vs. dynamic loads: assess whether the tape must withstand constant pressure or accommodate movement and load changes.
Durability requirements: consider the mechanical stresses the tape needs to withstand, including compression, thermal expansion, and any other types of stress that will be placed on the tape.
Environmental conditions: evaluate conditions such as exposure to UV light, chemicals, and moisture. Your tape will need to be able to withstand its environment.
Outdoor vs. indoor applications: determine if the UV resistance and weatherability of the tape are factors in your application. Different environments before and after making the bond will pose different challenges.
Temperature extremes: what are the highest and lowest temperatures that your application will be exposed to? What is the typical operating temperature? Ensure that the tape can perform within the operating temperature range of your application.
VHB Tape Families
While many VHB tapes share similar strengths (listed above), they are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each type of tape family is engineered to meet the unique demands of different applications, surface types, environmental conditions, and load-bearing requirements. While there are many specific types of tapes, each category (or families) of tape follow the same construction. Within each family of tape resides a variety of thicknesses, liner options, and sometimes colors. However, the general construction of the tape within the family, the foam core type and the adhesive type, are the same.
For most applications, there are two VHB tape families that will offer the ideal blend of adhesion, conformability, and strength required for a strong bond:
3M™ VHB™ 4941 Series Tape: designed with a multi-purpose acrylic adhesive on both sides, this tape is known for its excellent balance of strength and conformability. The 4941 family adheres well to a variety of materials including metals, glass, plastics, and many medium to high surface energy materials. It's particularly useful in applications where a durable bond is needed along with the strength to accommodate a variety of dynamic loads and thermal expansion and contraction.
3M™ VHB™ Tape RP+ Series: ideal for general-purpose applications, RP+ tapes offer good adhesion to a similar array of surfaces and a fine balance of strength and conformability, similar to the 4941 family, but can be more cost-effective. They are suitable for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications, providing strong holding power and long-term durability.
By selecting the right thickness of VHB within these two families, you will likely have a tape solution that meets the needs of your application.
Sometimes, however, your application will have special requirements. For these types of applications, there are specialty tapes which should be evaluated:
3M™ VHB™ 5952 Series Tape: with a modified acrylic adhesive and a very conformable foam core, the 5952 series is ideal for powder-coated paint and many plastic applications. With these added attributes the product family does sacrifice some of the strength and dynamic load resistance in comparison with the 4941 Series Tapes. The softness and adhesion of these tapes make them perfect for textured surfaces found in powder-coated finishes. They are specifically designed for good adhesion to high, medium and lower surface energy plastics and paints, metals and glass.
3M™ VHB™ GPH Series Tape: for applications that involve bonding before a powder coat bake cycle, the GPH series is a great choice. These tapes withstand high temperatures up to 450 °F for hours, making them ideal for manufacturing processes that include high heat curing or baking steps, helping you maintain the integrity and bond strength throughout the process. The tapes can be used in applications with elevated operating temperatures. They bond well to metals, glass, medium surface energy plastics, and many painted surfaces.
3M™ VHB™ LSE Series Tape: if you are working with low surface energy plastics like Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE), these tapes were designed specifically for those most difficult substrates. With a low surface energy bonding PSA and an ultra-conformable foam core, the LSE Series will bond without the need for etching, flame treating, or priming agents. A fast and easy-to-use method that provides high strength, long-term durability, and a permanent bonding solution. For applications where the softer foam core is not ideal, 3M offers Primer 94 which enables products like the 4941 Series tapes to bond well to these plastics.
Find the Best VHB Tape for Your Application
At Engineered Materials, we work with our customers to help them solve their most challenging bonding issues. If that solution involves the use of VHB tapes, we’ll help you choose the best option based on your substrate, environment, and other application requirements. We can help you with everything from tailoring your tapes dimensions to custom fabricating it into specified shapes, all the way to prototyping and pilot runs. We are your complete adhesive partner, so get in touch with us today to solve your bonding issues for good.