Original subtitles

[narrator] On Tomorrow's World Today,

we explore the cutting-edge advances

that are shaping four different worlds.

The world of inspiration,

where the wonders of the natural world amaze and inspire us.

The world of creation, where ideas come to life from traditional arts.

The world of innovation, where ideas and inventions move us all forward.

The world of production,

where innovations are mass-produced to improve our lives.

From Inventionland world headquarters,

here is your host George Davison.

Hi, everybody. I'm George Davison.

I'm at Inventionland's innovation testing lab area,

where we're in the middle of testing and evaluating a special kind of technology.

Now, most of you are familiar with rivets.

You know, when it comes to holding things together, like two pieces of metal.

Now rivets have always provided a certain amount of strength and security,

but as you can see, they can come apart under certain conditions.

So today, we're testing VHB tape.

This technology is claiming

that it can do things that rivets can't do.

And I really want to see if it works.

It's easy to apply

and once you put pressure

onto the material

that's on that tape,

it's not supposed to come apart.

And...

it's not coming apart.

We also wanted to test this

in underwater conditions, because if it's used in construction,

you know, we want to see how it really withstands those elements in the field.

And as you can see,

this has the potential to change the way we build things.

But the tape isn't just used in construction, either.

We found it in our cell phones.

And even in an instrument panel in our car.

I want to see how people who created this tape

used their imaginations to create prototypes and then mass produce it.

I'm going to send Greg to the world of production

to explore how this tape is shaping our future.

Egyptians first used rivets over 5,000 years ago.

They used them to join handles to clay pots.

Now, if we fast-forward to the mid-19th century, rivets are everywhere.

They're used in tool construction, vehicles,

even home and building construction.

It's one of the most prevalent ways of joining materials together.

Now, as we get ready to enter the middle of the 21st century,

we have to ask the question. Is there a better way?

Well, I'm at 3M in Germany to meet with Nelson Pimentel.

We're going to discuss some new and innovative methods

that will answer that question with a resounding yes.

-Hi, Nelson. -Hi, Greg.

-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

Now, I know the 3M VHB tape has been around for quite a while.

Now, when we see a rivet in a thing, we see the rivet.

What are some of the things that 3M VHB tape might be in that we don't see?

So actually you already described the construction application,

but we do have beside that, like, appliance, transportation,

elevators, like applying the panels to the elevator itself

or even consumer electronics.

So we don't have to see rivets through our tablet.

Yeah, sure. Sure.

All right. Now, this doesn't look all that different

from the double-faced foam that I might have in my toolbox at home.

What makes it different?

Yeah, I would like to challenge you.

To just ask you to pull apart this piece of the tape.

-You have a conventional tape in the first step. -Okay.

The second step, you have the 3M VHB tape.

So if you are trying to pull it apart, you see two competing properties,

which the tape actually has. It's viscoelasticity.

It has a viscous part, which is allowing you to change the shape,

and the elasticity, which is bouncing back the material.

All right, well, why don't you show me how you apply it?

Sure, so first, certainly, you need to clean up the surface.

You don't want to have, like, fingerprints or some other dust or dirt on it.

So we just clean up with isopropanol alcohol on it.

It's easy to be applied, you just use our 3M VHB tape...

cutting it,

applying some pressure, as it's a pressure-sensitive adhesive,

so it needs pressure in order to adhere to the surface,

you remove the liner, easily,

and as you see, it's two different substrates that I'm bonding together.

That's already really stuck on, there.

All right. Well, I mean, there are a lot of different applications,

a lot of different needs that people might have.

How do you test for that and how do you show them what you have available?

Yeah. Let me just show you in our lab, how we are doing it, actually.

So, Nelson, you know, nuts, bolts, screws, rivets,

these are all pretty conventional construction techniques

that everybody is familiar with.

You're asking folks to kind of make a leap of faith, here,

with 3M VHB tape.

What are you going to do to up their level of confidence

that they know that the tape is going to do the job that they need it to do?

Yeah, sure. So certainly years of testing,

but as well, walking, really, side by side with the customer,

solving their design challenges

as well as their automation problems that they might have.

Okay, so what are we looking at here as far as products go?

Yeah, sure. So before selecting the final tape,

certainly customer might be able to apply a roll, a piece of tape,

or they could actually apply, like, a die cut piece,

but before even choosing the right tape

we certainly need to collect data and to make a lot of testings.

What are we doing to collect that data?

Now, are you actually getting these from the customer?

Sure. I'm actually having an original substrate from the customer,

and we do need to test according to their requirements.

So different customers have different loads, different forces,

and we do need, really, to understand how well our tape is, for example,

adhering to their substrate. For that, we are actually doing the peel test.

Or even going further,

we are going towards, in order to test the actual performance of our tape,

we are doing shear tests

or even tensile tests.

[Greg] Okay, can you show me how you do that?

[Nelson] Yeah, sure.

So, Nelson, what exactly do we learn from the peel test?

Actually, we learn how well our tape is adhering to the original substrate.

By having, like, this test result and a perfect foam split,

it's an indicator that it's adhering properly to the substrate.

So now you've determined the adhesion properties you need

for the particular client's product.

How do you let them know, though, how strong that bond is going to be?

For that, we would do different types of testing like an overlap shear test,

where we would really test the internal strength of the tape.

We bonded just here an inch by inch piece of tape on these substrates

and pulling them apart.

And this will give us some new data,

which we actually need to proceed for next testings.

Okay.

Well I see that it's starting to pull apart now,

so are there other kinds of strength test that you would do,

because I know you really want them to be confident

that this bond is going to hold.

We are actually doing a dynamic test, which is a pendulum test.

Do you want to see it?

Absolutely.

Let's do it. Let's go.

So, Nelson, I understand that the shear test is basically about force

over a longer period of time.

I get the feeling this pendulum test looks to be something very different.

It is, actually. This will be really a dynamic testing.

So it will be impacting a very small probe

where we do have some VHB attached to it

and, yeah, it will absorb the energy.

So do you want to press the button?

I most certainly do.

All right, well, that knocked that clean off there.

Yeah, let's see the results.

So what we are actually seeing here now, it's a really clear foam split,

which is an indicator that the whole energy has been absorbed

by the foam core itself.

[Greg] So basically, one of the main points

of the tests that we've seen so far

is to make sure that the foam is adhering to the substrate that your customer provides

and it's not peeling off.

Exactly, exactly.

Okay. Well, I mean, these tests have all been great,

but they've all also been, you know, laboratory conditions.

What happens when you get out into the real world?

I mean, you could have products used in Arizona or Minnesota or even Florida.

How do you simulate those conditions?

Yeah, good question. So actually we are using our climatic chambers

in order to make extreme weather conditions

and really doing an accelerated aging.

We are placing them into chambers,

keeping them for a couple of weeks

under high temperature, high humidity or even cold temperature with ice,

and then really repeating all the tests, which we did now under room temperature.

[Greg] Okay, so basically you're exposing these things for a couple of weeks

to really extreme conditions,

which will then kind of simulate seasonal changes.

Yep, exactly.

How do you know how the materials will behave

under extreme sunlight for decades?

[Nelson] Yeah, for that, we do have our UV chamber.

We expose them to UV light and doing as well an accelerated aging there.

[Greg] Okay, great. Well, what else do you have to show me?

I have a nice surprise for you. Do you want to see it?

-Lead the way. -Let's go.

All right, Nelson. Now we're talking.

This looks like tomorrow's world technology here today.

Tell me what we're looking at.

Yeah, so now we are in our bonding process center,

where we are able to leverage our capabilities about how to automatize the process.

And what you have actually seen here

is how you, for example, could extrude a tape.

So what we are actually doing here is, like, using the best out of tools,

a liquid adhesive and a tape,

just combining them together by just feeding the material through an extruder,

applying heat to it and just easily applying it on your surface.

[Greg] Now, is this going to have the same adhesive qualities

as your VHB tape or the liquid adhesive?

[Nelson] Yeah, it will have performance like a 3M VHB tape or like a sealant.

[Greg] What are some of the other advantages to using this process?

Yeah, sure. So we just prepared one sample in order to demonstrate it.

It's our stretch release technology.

So it's quite easy to just remove the tape.

As you can see it, here.

[Greg] So you can just remove that adhesive.

So say you're in the middle of your manufacturing process.

Something goes wrong with a piece of your equipment.

You can remove the adhesive, not lose any materials,

send the whole thing right back through your manufacturing process again.

Exactly. So as you can see, it's very easy to just remove it.

All right. Well, we've collected a lot of data here today,

we've looked at a lot of different samples and testing,

what I really want to know now is how we apply that

to one of your real world customers.

What we would like now to demonstrate you

is how we could predict our behavior or the bonding solution behavior

in real world application. So do you want to see it?

-I do. -Yeah. Then let's go.

Well, Nelson, we've performed a lot of tests, collected a lot of data.

Now you've crunched all those numbers and put it together into this simulation.

What exactly does this represent?

Yeah, all the data, which we actually created,

was to characterize our material

and we created a material data card

which has been incorporated into the FEA software,

which stands for finite element analysis,

where we are really able to predict the behavior of the overall structure

as well as our 3M VHB tape

and knowing how it's really behaving in these circumstances.

So basically, you're able to save your clients a lot of time, money and effort

by creating what would be a virtual prototype,

which would just get them further along the line,

down towards their end game of what they actually need.

Yeah, exactly. So we really shorten up their design cycle time

and as well saving a lot of money.

But at the end of the day, you still need to make a hardware test.

Can I get to see something like that?

I'd love to see some real world testing.

Yeah, sure. We would like to invite you

to the Stanley testing proving ground in York, Pennsylvania.

Excellent. I'm going to be off to there, then. Nelson, thank you very much.

[Nelson] You're welcome. Bye.

Well, we've performed the test,

we've collected the data

and we've run the simulations.

Now, it is time to see 3M VHB tape in action.

I'm at the National Certified Testing Laboratories in York, PA.

We have three more experiments on tap, including

launching a two-by-four out of a cannon at a glass door.

I can't wait.

Hey, guys. Reese.

-Good to meet you. -Good to meet you, Todd.

You're with Stanley Access Technologies.

Tell me what we're working on here.

Today, we're going to be doing some hurricane testing on our Dura-Storm product

and you got here just in time to watch us put in the glass and test out the VHB tape.

Excellent. Reese, how's that all going to happen?

Yeah, so as Todd mentioned, we've got the 3M VHB tape,

which holds in each piece of glass

and in order to get that hurricane rating,

we need to go through three different tests.

One, a static pressure test,

that simulates gusts of wind up to 220 miles per hour acting on the glass.

Second is a hurricane impact test,

where, as you said, a two-by-four is fired directly into the glass.

And third is a pressure cycling test,

where pressure is cycled inwards and outwards rapidly

to simulate that hurricane event.

Now, even under all of that stress, this tape is going to hold that glass in place.

Exactly, and this is why we did all of the testing with Nelson,

to give us confidence for this application.

All right. Well, let's get a piece of glass in this door and get started.

Let's do it.

[Greg] Okay, now when Todd brings this over, he's got a prepped piece of glass

and he's pretty much got one shot at this.

[Reese] Exactly. So he needs to make sure that alignment is perfect

and then he'll apply final pressure to this.

[Greg] Now, once he does this, how long will it take

for this piece of glass to set up?

[Reese] Right when he applies pressure it's at about 30% of its final strength

and it will get to 100% over the next 24 hours, about.

All right, but you've got a door all ready to go for our test,

so why don't we get going?

Let's do it.

All right, Reese. What's the first test going to be?

This is a static pressure or structural wind load test.

Essentially, this entire wall is pulling vacuum on this door system,

up to about 55 pounds per square foot of pressure.

And the tape has even been tested up to

120 pounds per square foot of pressure before.

[Greg] What does that translate to as far as wind speeds go?

Right about 220 mile per hour wind speeds.

[Greg] All right. Well, I guess it's time to get our hard hats on

and get ready for our next test.

Let's get to it.

So, Reese, when I was in Germany with Nelson,

we did a lot of data collection, which was basically

there to build a simulation of what we're about to see in real life.

What can you tell me about this test?

So we're about to do the hurricane impact test,

where we're going to take an eight foot long two-by-four,

lovingly called a missile,

and shoot it at this doorframe,

right in the corner, at about 50 feet per second.

Why the corner?

So the corner simulates essentially a worst case scenario.

Right? We need to know that in a hurricane event,

this could take an impact and then still remain standing.

So basically, all of the simulations

that we've performed up to this point

are to mimic an extreme weather situation like a hurricane,

where you can have temperature changes, pressure changes

and even have debris flying around.

You've got it. And we have confidence in this tape,

because the 3M VHB tapes are viscoelastic materials,

which means that their strength is proportional

to the rate a stress is applied.

So the faster the applied force, the stiffer the tape reacts

and the stronger it is.

All right. Well, I think we're ready to go,

so we'd better get out of the way.

Let's do it.

Ready?

Fire in the hole!

[Greg] Man, Reese, that really hit that glass door. Let's go see the damage.

[Reese] This is such an extreme test.

We can see that the missile indented the glass.

But if we look around the perimeter,

we can see that all of the 3M VHB tape is still adhered.

[Greg] Right. Now, one impact does not a hurricane make.

How do you know that this is going to sustain itself through the entire event?

That's exactly what the next test is for.

It's the pressure cycling test,

which we'll start here in a minute.

Excellent.

So are we ready to get the cyclic test started?

-Absolutely. Thank you, Drew. -All right.

So, Reese, tell me.

What exactly does the cycling test... what's that going to show us?

Sure. It's exactly as you said.

Even in a hurricane-type event, if this glass were damaged,

we need to know that it still has some integrity

and that the 3M VHB tape is going to continue holding in the glass over time.

So you're going to test it in exactly this spot, in exactly this state,

and it's important that you test it in this damaged condition

so you know whether or not that glass is going to hold

through a sustained weather event.

Yes, and whereas with the structural wind load testing,

we held a sustained pressure for up to a minute,

this is actually cycling in and out.

So we're going to see the glass pulsating

in and out throughout this for a few thousand cycles of tests.

How long would this test normally go on?

The entire test takes about six and a half hours.

We start by running a few thousand cycles

at 50% of the maximum pressure,

then we gradually ramp up that pressure

and do a couple of hundred cycles at each of those increments.

And now you can actually see it start to pulse

in and out as that pressure changes.

[Reese] Yes. Just a few thousand more cycles.

[Greg] But the tape is holding.

All right. Well, Reese, this has been excellent. Thank you very much.

I'm going to get on out of here.

I know you're heading back to Inventionland.

You're going to meet with George. So you have a great trip.

Great to meet you, Greg.

Hey, Reese! Welcome to Inventionland.

Thanks for having me, George.

-You bet. -I see you got my gift.

I did. I've been waiting for you to get here, though. I didn't want to...

You know, I didn't want to do it myself.

-Let's see what it is. -All right.

What? Oh, look at that. Wait, is that the scooter?

[Reese] It's the exact same scooter, not quite assembled,

but this is meant to be put together nearly entirely with 3M VHB tape.

You probably put a ton of work into figuring out,

you know, how to make this product come to life and all,

but I'm really curious about, you know, testing

and how you, you know, how do you build confidence enough

to go to the world market like this.

No matter what the customer application, whether it be a scooter,

or with Stanley Access Technologies creating a hurricane-rated door,

we needed to go through a rigorous testing cycle.

Mmm-hmm.

[Reese] So we start with basic adhesion testing.

It doesn't really matter how strong the tape is

if it doesn't adhere in the first place.

Then we went through strength testing,

both shear strength, but also looking at impact strength,

because we showed that that door frame needs to withstand

a two-by-four being shot out of a cannon at it.

And then, in addition to that, right, we also care about environmental testing.

Heat, humidity, cold or just about anything nature can throw at it.

[George] Let's talk about the future. Where are we going?

What we've invented is 3M VHB extrudable tapes,

which kind of has all of the same benefits as our typical VHB tapes,

but now these can be also robotically applied

in just about any design flexibility you might want.

The extrudable option is kind of a liquid applied form.

So it can go around tighter curves.

It can change thicknesses and meet whatever that customer might want it to.

[George] So, Reese, that's all really good stuff.

But you know what, what is this huge contraption that you've sent me?

I've been waiting to look under this tarp.

Yes, so this is our last surprise for you.

A floating chair?

[Reese] Yeah, it's levitating.

It may look like it is, but the chair, the only thing holding it up

is 3M VHB tapes.

Wow, good stuff.

So it's good, right?

And it held you.

-Yeah, I tested it. It worked really well. -[laughs]

Well done, Reese. Well, you know, I'm glad you came in today.

It's good to see, uh, what this technology can do

and I appreciate you coming all this way to show us this technology.

It's been great to meet you. Thank you.

You as well.