3M spray adhesive technologies are widely used for bonding wood, MDF, laminates, foams, felts, vinyl etc. and has proven to be a fast and convenient way of spraying adhesive, uniformly, over a large surface area

 Spray adhesives are conveniently packaged contact adhesives, where in adhesives are dissolved in either solvents or water. These adhesives are handy and self-contained that are easy to use with no clean up required. The adhesives dispense precise quantity to the area where the adhesive application is required and thus eliminates wastage. It is quick, safe and allows continuous application with no mixing. Here we discussed various 3M spray adhesive technologies that are widely used in large area bonding of wood, MDF, laminates, foams, felts, vinyl etc.

The 3M Sprayable Adhesive portfolio offers a complete continuum of products for bonding a variety of surfaces:
• Aerosol, cylinder and bulk dispensing options
 Water-based adhesives
• Solvent-based adhesives
• GreenGuard Certified and LEED Compliant products
• Regulatory compliance solutions.

3M introduced the first industrial-grade aerosol adhesive over 50 years ago, and the broad portfolio now allows the customers to select the product from wide range of performance and application characteristics for production and maintenance jobs. And just the touch of a finger puts a job matched formulation to work on paper, cardboard, plastic, foam, fabric, metal and many more medium weightiness substrates. Most of the 3M aerosol adhesives also have an adjustable nozzle that allows the controlled lace spray pattern that minimises overspray and wastage.

3M Aerosol adhesive features:
• Handy self-contained applicators, which saves the expense of complex application systems
• Compact container with storage stability, helps reduce storage costs
• Contain no methylene chloride, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or methyl chloroform.
3M has also introduced cylinder adhesives, which is self-contained pressurised cylinders of various sizes with the spray system attached.

Cylinder adhesives offers the convenience of aerosol, but with increased productivity, and requires no or very minimum maintenance. Optimised spray patterns reduces the wastage and maximise coverage of adhesive.3M, recently introduced water-based pressure sensitive spray adhesives of high solid contents, for vinyl tiles or carpet fixing applications, with upright and inverted aerosol format. It is a convenient floor tiling solution that’s faster to apply and a lot easier on the knees than conventional trowel-on adhesives. The product has zero Volatile Organic Components (VOC) and is safe, non-flammable formulation that is better for workers and the environment.

Sustainable manufacturing is high profile news around the world, and the green building revolution is spreading across the world. 3M have been actively developing water-based adhesives for more than 40 years with the introduction of first ever water-based adhesives, 3M Fastbond Contact Adhesive. The 40 year old innovation of 3M Fastbond water based adhesive is today, compliant with the most stringent U.S. air quality requirements. 3M water based contact adhesives offer versatile high tack adhesives with extremely good coverages and high temperature resistance. These adhesives bonds both porous and non-porous substrates.

Building on green history, 3M is expanding and accelerating the “greening” of product life cycles and encouraging participation so that everybody wins whether in the role as producer or consumer, customer or supplier, or simply a good neighbour. More and more product designers and manufacturing engineers rely on 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes for design flexibility, more efficient production, and end use performance. At the same time, energy costs and consumer demand for environmentally preferable products are driving sustainable manufacturing.

3M Industrial Adhesive and Tapes division (IATD) has comprehensive product range of high-performance that includes a wide variety of high solids/low-VOC and GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified adhesives. 3M Adhesives that are GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified can do more than just help manufacturers and builders pursue LEED rated projects; they can make long-term economic sense.

In addition to the benefits listed below, incorporating green 3M adhesives in the process can be an important part of helping own products green and opens the door to a whole new universe of customers.

• Reduced flammability and fire marshal issues with water-based adhesives
• No transportation restrictions from using water-based adhesives
• Fewer controlled substances to manage
• Improved worker safety with low-VOC adhesives.

3M’s complete line of innovative sprayable adhesives is essential for a wide range of industrial applications, from aerospace to woodworking.

Authored by_
 
Dr. Ratheesh Kumar P M,
Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division,
3M India Ltd