When you’re trying to select a 3M adhesive tape, there are a lot of different part numbers to choose from—and that can get confusing pretty quickly.
One way to simplify the process is to start with the adhesive family, rather than immediately looking for a specific tape number.
3M has five major adhesive systems that we’ll look at in this video:
350, 360, 300LSE, 300MP, and 200MP.
Each adhesive family has different characteristics, and then 3M builds different tape constructions around those adhesives—such as different thicknesses, carriers, liners, and double-coated or transfer-tape configurations.
So think of the adhesive family as the starting point. Once you know which family fits your application, you can narrow it down to the specific tape construction and part number.
3M 350
Let’s start with 350.
The 350 adhesive system is designed for demanding applications where you need high shear strength, good chemical resistance, and high-temperature performance.
It’s also used for applications involving difficult-to-bond, low-surface-energy materials.
One interesting feature of the 350 adhesive construction is the use of micro glass fibers, which help reinforce the adhesive and contribute to its high internal strength.
So, if you’re dealing with a demanding application where shear strength and temperature resistance are important, 350 is a family worth looking at.
3M 360
Next is 360.
360 shares some characteristics with 350, but it has a different performance balance.
It offers good adhesion to many low-surface-energy materials, along with high initial tack and good quick-stick characteristics.
One advantage of 360 is its relatively low tendency to ooze from the edges of the tape.
That can be particularly useful for die-cut parts, where you want the adhesive to stay where it’s supposed to be during converting and handling.
So, while 350 and 360 may overlap in some applications, they’re optimized somewhat differently.
3M 300LSE
Next is 300LSE.
If you work with plastics such as polypropylene or polyethylene—or other low-surface-energy materials—300LSE is a family you’re going to hear about quite often.
It’s designed specifically for bonding difficult low-surface-energy substrates and is available in a wide range of tape constructions.
Another advantage is its ability to perform well on some surfaces that may have slight contamination from processing oils, although surface preparation and testing are still important.
For many industrial applications involving LSE plastics, 300LSE is a very useful starting point.
3M 200MP and 300MP
Now let’s look at 200MP and 300MP together, because this is where the difference between the two adhesive systems becomes particularly useful.
Both are widely used for industrial bonding, but they behave differently.
200MP is generally a firmer, more cohesive adhesive.
It’s well suited to applications such as graphic overlays, nameplates, and bonding to smooth metals and high-surface-energy plastics.
It also provides good shear strength and temperature resistance, with some short-term repositionability that can be helpful when you’re trying to get a part aligned before applying final pressure.
300MP, on the other hand, is softer and more conformable.
That allows it to flow into and wet out surfaces that aren’t perfectly smooth.
So 300MP can be a good choice for materials such as foams, fabrics, felt, leather, carpet, and wood, where conformability and initial grab can be more important than the higher-temperature performance of 200MP.
In simple terms:
200MP tends to favor firm, smooth, flat surfaces and higher temperature performance.
300MP tends to favor softer, more irregular, or porous materials where conformability and quick wet-out are important.
That’s an important distinction because the strongest adhesive on paper isn’t necessarily the best adhesive for the application.
So how do you choose?
And that’s really the point of looking at these five adhesive families.
Instead of starting with a specific 3M part number, start by asking a few basic questions:
What material am I bonding?
Is it metal? A high-surface-energy plastic? A low-surface-energy plastic? Foam? Fabric?
What kind of surface am I bonding to?
Is it smooth and flat, or is it rough, textured, porous, or slightly irregular?
And then consider the environment.
How much heat will the bond see?
Will it be exposed to chemicals, humidity, oils, or other demanding conditions?
Once you have those answers, you can start narrowing the choices down to the appropriate adhesive family—and then to the specific tape construction and thickness.
These five adhesive systems can seem overwhelming at first, but you don’t necessarily need to know every 3M part number to get started.
Start with the application.
Then work toward the adhesive family, and finally the specific tape.
And if you’re not sure which direction to go, talk with your tape supplier. They may be able to recommend an adhesive family and provide samples or smaller quantities for evaluation before you commit to a larger purchase.
That’s often the best way to make sure the tape you select actually works in your application.