with 3M™ VHB™
Commercial Vehicle Tapes
Bonding parts with speed, precision, reliability, and strength
requires an approach that breaks the barriers of traditional
assembly or fabrication methods.
For more than 35 years, leading trailer manufacturers have
relied on 3M™ VHB™ Commercial Vehicle Tape for the
assembly of durable, smooth-sided trailers. The tape is used
to bond sidewall panels to posts and panel to panel overlap
seams.
3M™ VHB™ Commercial Vehicle Tapes are conformable,
double-coated, pressure sensitive acrylic foam tapes.
Viscoelastic acrylic foam provides unique energy absorbing and
stress relaxing properties not found in general purpose foam
tapes such as polyethylene foam tape. This chemistry protects
the bond by absorbing vibration, dynamic loads, movement
due to trailer flex, and thermal expansion/contraction. 3M™
VHB™ Commercial Vehicle Tapes have outstanding durability,
UV resistance and temperature performance. The end result
is a smooth and durable trailer side wall assembly that will last
for years.
3M™ VHB™ Commercial Vehicle Tapes provide excellent
adhesion to a broad range of materials used in the commercial
vehicle industry, including aluminum, steel, galvanized steel,
painted steel and aluminum panels, and fiberglass reinforced
plastic panels.
A trailer assembled with 3M™ VHB™ Tape is up to 41%
quieter at highway speeds and reduces vibration up to 30%
when compared to a mechanically fastened trailer. This is
especially important for vehicles built to transport animals.
Veterinarians indicate that animals experience both muscular
and mental fatigue during transport. This can lead to health
concerns or poor performance.
Using Bosch’s established system of accelerated road testing,
36,000 miles of durability testing was performed using two
trailers – one assembled with 3M™ VHB™ Tape, the other
with mechanical fasteners. The taped trailer was evaluated
through the first 36,000 miles, then 100,000 miles. No
problems were observed with the taped sidewall attachments
during the 100,000-mile test. The trailer assembled with
mechanical fasteners, however, experienced 31% of fasteners
loose after 36,000 miles, resulting in sidewall panel leakage and
noise due to panel vibration.
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