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Myth #1: Structural adhesives don’t hold.

Disproved: Consider the evidence.

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3M™ Structural Adhesives can outperform traditional joining methods like screws, rivets, and spot welds.

Cured 3M™ Epoxy Adhesives have 2-3 times the overlap sheer strength of spot welds and mechanical fasteners.

Engineers typically have more experience with traditional joining methods and often turn to them without considering the advantages of structural adhesives.

Structural adhesives are similar in overlap shear strength to welds and significantly stronger than spot welds, bolts and rivets. They also provide better aesthetics because they do not require refinishing steps or leave protrusions.

Graph data was collected from:

3M's Structural Two-Part Epoxy Adhesive: Performance vs. Mechanical Fasteners

Acrylic Structural Adhesives: Features and Recent Advancements

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Rivet	$18,450.00
Bolt	$34,340.72
Spot Weld	$43,145.52
Weld	$18,415.96
Toughened Epoxy Adhesive	$18,415.96

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3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Metal Bonder Acrylic Adhesive DP8407NS

We showed how a structural adhesive can be used as an alternative to mechanical fasteners for metal to metal bonding, including high temperature applications.

See here for additional information on using structural adhesives to bond metals prior to liquid painting and powder coating.
Beyond Strong

We used a 3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Structural Adhesive to keep 14,550 pounds suspended in the air through a Minnesota winter night.