VHB™ Tape: 3M’s Very High Bond to the Tape Industry
3M™ VHB™ tapes have been known across industries as the tape to reach for when we need a very high bond. This has been true for decades. Ever since the early eighties, VHB™ tapes have consistently improved the sectors that now depend on them.
The strength and performance of their innovative foam adhesive core has become a standard in the marketplace. With each new series 3M introduces into the VHB™ portfolio, we keep discovering amazing ways they can solve our project needs. Their highly under-talked about GPH series is a great example of this.
What does GPH mean?
GPH stands for General Purpose High-temperature. But it could just as easily be Great Performance in Heat. Really, whichever mnemonic helps best to remember that it’s the foam tape for seriously hot applications.
The nice thing about General Purpose High-temperature is that the name covers at least two of the tape’s biggest selling points. As a general-purpose option, it sticks to a wide array of surfaces. Then, of course, there’s its high-temperature performance. As we illustrate below, 3M really means high temperatures.
What the VHB™ Tape GPH Series Brings to Your Market
- High Temperature Applications
- Good Adhesion to Medium and High Surface Energy Materials
- Solvent Resistance
- Immediate Handling Strength
- Conformable Foam Offering Gap Filling & Stress Relaxation
High Temperature Applications
If it’s worth saying once, it’s worth saying a thousand times. GPH options offer permanent bonds for projects that face challenging, high temperatures. Over the short term (minutes and hours), they hold strong up 450°F. They can also withstand long-term exposure (days or even weeks) to heat up to 300°F.
This performance trait allows permanent bonding assembly to take place before running products through powder-coating or baking cycle processes. Such a benefit streamlines your manufacturing to improve your production rates.
Appliance Industry Example
The GPH series supports an easier oven and cooktop manufacturing process. You can use VHB™ GPH tapes to attach exterior glass windows to oven door frames. Also, these tapes work great to hold metal frames to glass stove tops.
Since these appliances require repeated short-term heat spikes for cooking, GPH’s temperature ratings are perfect for the application.
Transportation Industry Example
GPH options are a great choice for rail car assembly on trains. These tapes have been used to bond side panels to door frames and even overhead luggage panels to interior frames. Considering their general-purpose strengths, they can be applied before a paint job or to already painted surfaces.
Signage Industry Example
Lighted box signs can command respect. They offer a clean presentation while also easily grabbing people’s attention. Making them, though, can often require repeated bake cycles using powder coating or liquid painting processes. So it makes sense that GPH tapes make for such a successful pairing with this application.
Construction Industry Example
GPH also comes in handy in building architectural panel systems. These often use stiffeners that attach to different types of panels. Some common examples include aluminum composite material (ACM) and plate metal (aluminum and stainless steel. With GPH, you can attach these stiffeners either before painting bake cycles or afterwards when the surfaces are already coated.
General Industrial Example
The GPH series also works seamlessly when you’re finishing metal. As with paint-based bake cycles, these tapes handle the bake cycles used to finish metal assemblies.
Good Adhesion to Medium and High Surface Energy Materials
- Metal
- Glass
- Plastics
- And many coated or painted surfaces
Solvent Resistance
In addition to its phenomenal temperature rating, the GPH series can take on applications around various solvents without compromising the bond.
Immediate Handling Strength
The tapes in the GPH series all have high initial tack, making their bonds strong enough to work right away. This immediate handling strength is one of the biggest benefits of switching traditional fastening methods to VHB™ tapes. Assembly is quick and allows you to skip the waiting time associated with spot welds, glues, or driving in screws.
Conformable Foam Offering Gap Filling & Stress Relaxation
Speaking of mechanical fasteners, welds, and glues – VHB™ tapes offer gap filling and stress dissipation qualities to your products that these other methods can’t. Traditional ways of fastening create single points of stress. This makes your product more susceptible to breaking, tearing, and cracking.
The GPH series, on the other hand, leaves zero single points of stress to worry about. Instead, the tape dissipates the stress evenly across the entire surface of the bond. Plus, the foam core of GPH options maximizes the bonding potential by filling in at gaps and creating an even hold across uneven surfaces.
Available in Three Different Thicknesses
- 0.6 mm
- 1.1 mm
- 1.6 mm
Have an application that could benefit from the GPH series? Send us a free quote request, and we can get things in the works today!
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