3M Technology Platforms

3M began as an abrasives manufacturer. For more than a century, we have refined our original technologies and complemented them with breakthrough inventions impacting multiple 3M businesses. Today, our abrasives rely on traditional strengths such as resin formulation, treated backings and web coating, as well as the most modern technologies, from microreplicated composites, conformable nonwoven materials, printed super abrasives and precision shaped ceramic grains. The result is a comprehensive range of abrasives that cut, grind, shape, finish, and polish with ease and precision.

Featured Products: 3M™ High Performance abrasives, Precision Shaped Abrasive Grains, 3M™ Cubitron™ II Cut and Grind Wheel, 3M™ Precision Structured Vitrified CBN Grinding Wheels

So strong they can hold a structural panel for the life of a building... so gentle they can be applied to the skin of a child to secure tubing.  Because 3M adhesives have been engineered to fit our customers' needs, they are used in such diverse products as airplanes and cell phones, automobiles and medical dressings. We excel in curable adhesives and epoxies. And, of course, pressure-sensitive tapes, which 3M invented more than 90 years ago.

Featured Products: Post-it® Recycled Super Sticky Notes, 3M™ Kind Removal Silicone Tape, Command™

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To create products for the life sciences, 3M applies its unusual combination of strengths in material science, surface modification, microbiology, biology, and biochemistry. Among the results: remarkably durable dental restoratives, filtration media for pharmaceuticals, biocompatible surgical tapes and dressings, transdermal patches for drug delivery, tissue antiseptics, sample-ready-culture-medium systems and sterilization sensors.

Featured Products: 3M™ Petrifilm™ Plates, 3M™ Molecular Detection System​, 3M™ Clean-Trace™ Hygiene Management System

3M started here, turning minerals into sandpaper. Over more than a century, we have forged inorganic ceramic materials into a surprising range of products. The rugged granules that protect your roof. The complex touch screen at your ATM. The aesthetic dental restorative and the sharpest abrasive with precisely shaped particles. The brilliant bead that defines your lane on a rain-soaked highway and the ultra-strong fiber twisted into a power line―these are all derived from 3M's long history in inorganic ceramics. The future will be enabled with these materials as we address key megatrends in automation, consumer electronics, intelligent transportation and air/water quality.

Featured Products: Advanced Ceramics, Ceramic Sand Screens​, 3M™ Cubitron™ II Abrasives

By infiltrating dense arrangements of ceramic fibers or particles with aluminum alloy, 3M creates composite materials and articles that combine extraordinary strength and stiffness with light weight. 3M’s first commercial application for this technology is a high-strength overhead electrical conductor that can carry more than twice the power of conventional lines of the same size. Additional work continues on products and components for other uses, including structural and mechanical applications. The advantages of this material are magnified when the component is subjected to high acceleration loads that magnify the weight savings. In addition, 3M™ Nextel™ ceramic fibers reinforce an oxide ceramic matrix and enable the production of high-temperature, thermal shock and oxidation resistant Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC). These CMCs can replace metals and improve efficiency in applications such as aerospace engines, supersonic and hyper sonic aircraft, space vehicles, heat exchangers and industrial gas turbines.

Featured Products: Ceramic Matrix Composites, Nextel™ Fibers and Woven Fabrics, 3M™ Matrix Resin

3M uses the latest advances in chemistry, biology, ceramics and composite materials to help dentists and orthodontists improve the lives of patients all over the world. We combine a broad range of unique materials and design expertise with many other 3M technology platforms to create solutions that truly promote life-long oral health. Our expertise in oral microbiology and fluoride chemistry helps doctors combat tooth decay with toothpastes and protective coatings; and we help give patients back their ability to smile and chew by applying knowledge of ceramic materials, resin composites, adhesives, cements and processing to produce fillings, crowns, bridges and orthodontic appliances. Our in-depth understanding of resin technology and process engineering is focused to create breakthroughs in 3D printing for the oral care industry. We have been consistently recognized as one of the most innovative suppliers in the dental industry and our products are used to provide a continuum of care throughout a patient’s lifetime.

Featured Products: Scotchbond™ Universal Plus Adhesive, RelyX™ Universal Resin Cement, Filtek™ Supreme Ultra Universal Restorative

Advances in electronic components―from semiconductor devices to optical and copper interconnects to absorbers to improve signal to noise for high speed devices—often come from advances in processing.  3M contributes to improved yield in semiconductor wafers with our CMP solutions and fluorosurfactants, improved reliability in signal transfer with our TwinAx copper interconnect assemblies, increased 5G signal to noise from our PIM mitigation solutions and hybrid mm-wave absorbers, and significantly reduced fiber optic installation time with our Expanded Beam Optical connectors.

Featured Products: 3M™ Novec™ Engineered Fluids, 3M EMI shielding tape

From one to hundreds of layers, 3M engineered films are used to enhance and protect electronic displays, increase energy efficiency, provide graphics inside and outside of buildings, vehicles and traffic signage, as well as provide the basis of tapes for the office, industrial assembly, and health care. 3M films are fundamental to a wide variety of products in every business group. By understanding and manipulating the materials and process and the complex interactions between them, 3M creates a broad spectrum of film-based products.

Featured Products: 3M™ Diamond Grade™ Reflective Sheeting, 3M™ Scotchgard Paint Protection Film, 3M™ Tegaderm™ Dressings

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3M fluoromaterials represent a class of high-performance technologies and products that provide unequaled performance in many customer applications. They include an extensive line of protective coatings that provide stain protection and repellent properties to a variety of substrates. Fluorinated materials are used as thermal management fluids, corrosion resistant coatings, and as surfactants for high-performance paints and coatings as well as electronic applications. Dyneon fluoropolymers, fluoroplastics and fluoroelastomers, have outstanding thermal and chemical resistance, making them ideal for many products that operate in extreme and hostile environments. They are used in wire coatings, seals, gaskets, nonstick coatings, fuel hose liners, and other critical, high-performance applications.

Featured Products: 3M™ Novec™ Engineered Fluids, 3M™ Dyneon™ Fluoropolymers

3M is transforming the way we think about structured materials with metamaterials - defined as engineered structures with geometries smaller than the wavelengths of interest which can exhibit properties not observed in the constituent materials. From one-dimensional metamaterials such as multi-layer optical films, to two and three-dimensional structures, metamaterials represent a new approach to controlling and manipulating these stimuli wavelengths.

Featured Products: 3M™ Advanced Polarizing Film, 3M™ Enhanced Specular Reflector, 3M™ Ultra Clear Solar F​ilm

3M scientists and researchers are exploring a new world at the nanometer level, where materials exhibit unique physical, chemical, and biological properties. These unusual properties are already being exploited in our hard coatings, dental restoratives, and brightness-enhancing optical films. Many 3M technology platforms, including adhesives, advanced composites, wound management, ceramics and electronic materials are being influenced by the emergence of nano-sized particles.

Featured Products: 3M™ Brightness Enhancement Film (BEF), Filtek One, 3M™ Matrix Resin

After sixty-five years of exploring uses for nonwoven materials, 3M is still finding new ways to refine and apply them. In health care, medical tapes improve comfort for patients. In industrial settings, respirators help protect employee health. In homes, HVAC filters help remove particulates from the air. In workshops, abrasives improve product finish and performance. In automotive, insulators make cars quieter and more efficient. Thanks to 3M's expertise in advanced materials and sophisticated manufacturing technologies, new nonwoven materials are being developed for use in transportation, filtration, health care, industrial, and consumer products.

Featured Products: Filtrete™ Filters, 3M™ Paint Sanding Respirator, Nexcare™ No Hurt Wrap

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When 3M scientists begin work on a customer's problem, they draw on a remarkable array of high Performance Materials. This technology platform is a collection of unique materials developed and manufactured internally by 3M that provides differentiated performance to products made by 3M and our customers. It includes a combination of ceramics, fluoromaterials, nanomaterials, advanced silicone materials, specialty monomers and polymers, specialty additives (surfactants, curatives, cross-linkers, and catalysts) and coatings to create unique materials and composites. Our labs constantly add to this palette with new formulations and breakthrough modifications of existing materials; and 3M is unmatched in the application of these novel materials to the demands of real-world manufacturing.

Featured Products: Glass Bubbles, 3M™ Nextel™ Ceramic Fibers, Filtek™ Supreme​ Ultra Flowable

Porous materials and membranes show up in thousands of 3M products, including membranes for Oxygenators, Dialysers, Plasmaseparator, ECMO devices, degassing/gassing contractors, respirators, filters, fuel cells, transdermal patches, and wound dressings. 3M manufactures membranes and other porous structures engineered to perform in a wide range of applications in industrial and medical markets. In addition these materials can be chemically modified to enhance contaminant capture, improve selectivity, and optimise capacity. Today, 3M technology ensures that water, air, blood, plasma and other fluids can be processed to achieve the required medical treatment or fluid quality in an efficient and cost effective manner.

Featured Products: Hemodialysis Mem​branes, LifeASSURE™ Series Filters for Food and Beverage Applications, 3M Water Filtration Products High Flow Series for Commercial Food Service Applications

Release materials include release liners, low surface energy coatings and low adhesion backsizes (LABs) used in many of our high-performance adhesives and dressings. These release materials offer added functionality such as quiet unwind, printability, and precision delivery, providing value to 3M products across the entire franchise.

Featured Products: Scotch Magic Tape, Tegaderm, 3M Wrap Film Series 1080