Auto OEM Certifications

Avery Dennison's Specialty Tape Division makes finding the right tape for the auto industry much easier.

Avery Dennison's Specialty Tape Division recently added a helpful tool to their website. Now, customers can search Avery Dennison tapes by the type of auto OEM certifications they have or need to fulfill.

Users can select an OEM, enter a specific OEM spec number, select the substrate they are laminating or the type of panel they are applying to find the right products.

Visit Avery Dennison's Specialty Tape Division's website to learn more or try out this useful too.

Surface Energy and Dynes

What is surface energy and how does it affect adhesive products? How do dynes play a role in determining the type of adhesive to use

"Surface energy is also called surface tension. A good way to understand surface energy and how it relates to tape is to take a white board marker and a solvent marker and try to mark onto a plastic. Plastics tend to have low surface energy and water-based markers also have low surface energy. As a result, a water based whiteboard marker does not wet out as well as a solvent based marker so it doesn’t write very well. A solvent marker like a sharpie or other permanent marker makes a good line on more surfaces because the solvent has very high surface energy and wets out.

Adhesive tapes are the same way. If the adhesive does not wet out onto a surface, the surface needs to be modified to increase the surface energy. This can be done by using a tape particularly good at sticking to low surface energy materials such as a silicone or a very aggressive adhesive like acrylics or rubbers can overcome the low surface energy by chemically bonding to the surface. If a tape doesn’t stick to a surface, a prime coating can be used just like painting a house. Or corona etching or other processes can enhance the surface energy of the material.

Some materials have very low surface energy (Dyne is the unit of measure for surface energy.). PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) or Teflon has very low surface energy and is often used to make non-stick cooking surfaces. Food will not stick to the surface- nor will adhesive tapes. If you were to write on PTFE with a marker, you would not get a good line even with a permanent marker because the ink would bead up like water on a newly waxed car."

This information was provided by Richard J. Austin of Saint-Gobain.

Vibration Damping

My company manufacturers small commercial appliance dispensers. When the unit kicks on, it causes metal parts to vibrate together which creates unwanted noise. We are looking for some type of fix that wouldn’t cause us to re-design the existing model or significantly alter the production process. One thought was to adhere some type of gasket where the metal parts overlap and end up vibrating together. Do you have any suggestions for us?

There are products on the market (with and without adhesive) made to prevent vibration noise. They are commonly referred to as “squeak and rattle” prevention materials.

There are a few other things we would need to know about your situation such as:
•Do you want a product with adhesive and if so, what substrate/coating does it need to adhere to?
•How thick does the product need to be?
•Are there any extreme temperatures to consider?
•Does your product need to meet a UL specification?
•Does the product need to be highly conformable to contours?
•Does the product need to be specially converted so it won’t be visible?

Some commonly used products would be:
•Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMW) Polyethylene or Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) if exposed to heat
•Fleece or flock materials
•Foam or PVC gasketing material if there is a 1/32” gap or better or a moisture gasket is needed
•Polyester tapes can also be an inexpensive fix in some instances

Take a look at these 3M products to see if they fit. Otherwise, visit TapeInfo.com for a more extensive list of potential products. If you still aren't sure what will work best for you, contact a TapeInfo Representative for help.
•3M 5430 - Squeak Reduction Tape
•3M 9325 - Squeak Reduction Tape