3M™ 300MP High-Tack Acrylic Family Supply Disruption and Alternatives
Now that we’ve made it through the pandemic, it seems that the only worry on manufacturer’s minds was ensuring enough orders to maintain a healthy backlog. Inflation was waning and supply chain disruption was a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it was too good to last!
On May 15, 2023, 3M™ Industrial Tapes and Adhesive Division announced that due to a fire at a key supplier facility, there will be an immediate supply disruption. They are moving to transition their entire 300MP High-tack Acrylic pressure sensitive product line. This includes a wide range of thin double-sided and adhesive transfer tapes. The current products are on immediate allocation until the limited supplies are depleted. Thereafter, the pressure sensitive adhesive family, introduced decades ago will be discontinued. The specific products affected are as follows:
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape L2 + T3
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape L2 + T5
3M™ Double Coated Adhesive Tape L2 + DCP
3M™ Double Coated Differential Adhesive Tape L2 + DCD
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9832
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9832 HL
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9687C
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9690
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9690B
3M™ Double Coated Tape 99786
3M™ Double Coated Tape 97001
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9817M
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 6035PC
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 6035PL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 6038PC
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 6038PL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9772WL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9972WL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9974 WL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9975WL
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9459W
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape Extended Liner 9934XL
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9687C
What makes this substantial is that these are ubiquitous tapes used throughout industry. As a general-purpose high tack acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive family from the largest global tape supplier, these products have been specified into applications from automotive, to aerospace, to appliance. Sold through distribution as roll goods and sold in wide web logs to be laminated to foam, rubber, and other specialty materials by 3M Preferred Tape Converters, it is commonly used in the manufacture of tape, gasketing, and insulation parts.
If your company depends on one or more of these products, you should develop plans to address the disruption. This includes understanding the scope of exposure to your parts, understanding your current supply, and beginning to test suggested alternatives.
Whether you are using one of these general purpose double-sided tapes or general purpose adhesive transfer tapes , you fortunately will have a strong suite of replacement options. First, 3M has announced the June 2023 introduction of the new 3M Acrylic 300MP+ Family. 3M views the performance to be very similar to the 300MP High Tack adhesive family, while no longer being reliant on the chemical(s) procured from the damaged facility. 3M will also be simplifying their product offering with the 300MP+ introduction. There will be 300MP High-tack Acrylic Family products for which there is no direct replacement, but alternatives with similar construction will be offered. Discontinued products are the following:
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape L2 + T3
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape L2 + T5
3M™ Double Coated Adhesive Tape L2 + DCP
3M™ Double Coated Differential Adhesive Tape L2 + DCD
3M™ Double Coated Tape 97001
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9817M
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape 9459W
3M™ Adhesive Transfer Tape Extended Liner 9934XL
3M™ Double Coated Tape 9687C
Like any pressure sensitive adhesive change, 3M suggests that you test in your application to ensure that they perform for your intended use. The good news is that even if the new formulation doesn’t meet your exact needs, there are numerous suitable long proven alternatives as well. As the leader in PSA tape technology, 3M has many very well tested general purpose acrylic tapes available. Likely alternative adhesive families to test are 300 High Strength Acrylic Family, most known for the 3M Adhesive Transfer Tape 950, 350 High Performance Acrylic Family, most known for 3M Adhesive Transfer Tape 9485, and the 300LSE Low Surface Energy Acrylic Family known for the 3M Adhesive Transfer Tapes 9471LE and 9472LE. However, in all cases, selecting and qualifying a new acrylic PSA tape to replace your specified 300MP High-tack Family PSA tape will take time. Working with proven experts in PSA technology experts will help shorten your timeline by guiding you through the process of selecting, sampling, and testing the right products. Given the need for a quick turnaround, working with an expert, making plans, and enacting them should be a priority!