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™
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
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 Film
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
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 Membranes, 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
With Additive Manufacturing, 3M is defining the shape of things to come. Using its expertise in material science and processing, 3M is taking this digital technology to the next level to create solutions with unique material properties. Thanks to the ability to realise complex geometries, voids and undercuts that are otherwise-not-possible with conventional techniques, we are opening up endless possibilities for our customers across industries: creating perfect smiles, reducing lead times for complex tooling, and helping machinery operate in the harshest of environments. At 3M, we are pioneering new additive materials, accelerating manufacturing, enabling new business models and addressing key customer challenges to bring value to the market.
Featured Products: 3M™ Clarity™ Aligners, 3M Digital Bonding, 3M™ Precision Structured Vitrified CBN Grinding Wheels
At 3M, we use molding to create complex and customised components in thermoplastic and thermosetting materials using advanced technologies that deliver high-performance solutions to our customers. Driven by the high tolerances demanded by these applications, 3M has developed unique expertise in tool design, precision machining, metrology, and mold processing. The result is a diverse blend of products that include 3M’s personal protective equipment, dental restorative material dispensers for oral care solutions, automotive aftermarket paint application solutions, and precision optical components for electronics.
Featured Products: Accuspray™ ONE Spray Gun System with PPS™, 3M™ Rugged Comfort Half Facepiece Reusable Respirators 6500 Series for Personal Safety, RelyX™ Dental Cement Solutions
3M has pioneered the use of tiny, precisely shaped structures to give materials new physical, chemical, or optical properties. Microreplicated prisms are used in road signs and electronic displays to capture and reflect light more brilliantly. Microreplicated microlouvers protect display privacy. Fine triangular microreplicated ceramic particles make 3M’s coated, bonded and nonwoven abrasives cut faster and last longer. And microreplicated adhesives enable graphics films to be applied more easily without trapping air bubbles.
Featured Products: 3M™ Controltac™ Graphic Film With Comply™ Adhesive IJ180Cv3, Precision Shaped Abrasive Grains, 3M™ Diamond Grade™ DG³ Reflective Sheeting
In the past, high-volume manufacturing could mean wide product performance variability. Not anymore, thanks to advancements in coating, drying, curing, web handling, and other technologies. 3M researchers are designing production equipment that combines finely controlled processes with the economic efficiencies of high volume, continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing.
Featured Products: Command™ Hook Adhesives, 3M™ Sun Control Window Film Prestige series, 3M™ Particulate Respirator 8514, N95, with Nuisance Level Organic Vapor Relief
3M’s ability to create and disperse particles―in liquids, coatings, films, adhesive, and composites - allows it to give unique characteristics to its abrasives, dental restoratives, inks, window and optical films, carbon fiber reinforced composites, and a host of other products. Our understanding of physical, chemical, and interfacial interactions allows us to incorporate precisely distributed microparticles and nanoparticles - such as glass beads, glass bubbles, ceramics, and carbon – to tune a material’s strength, refractive index, conductivity, IR absorption, catalytic activity, and other characteristics.
Featured Products: IR Blocking Window Films, Filtek™ Supreme Ultra Universal Restorative, 3M™ Matrix Resin Technology
3M is a world leader in the development and use of polymers, combining and shaping these unique molecules into films, tapes, and hardgoods through single and multi-layer extrusion, coating, and a variety of forming processes. Expertise in elevated temperature processes and combination with 3M materials science enables solventless and less energy intensive manufacturing. Nearly all 3M technology platforms and all business groups leverage polymer processing for products including tapes for automotive attachment and industrial assembly, protective films for car and aircraft protection, graphic and traffic signage films, light & heat management films for windows and electronic displays, medical tapes and dressings, as well as masking, packaging, office and duct tapes.
Featured Products: 3M™ Pressure Sensitive Acrylic Plus Foam Tape, 3M™ Sun Control Window Film Prestige series, 3M™ Steri-Drape™ Surgical Drapes
The materials in many 3M products are cured, modified, or enhanced through physical or chemical changes―such as heating, polymerizing, crosslinking or ablating―that are caused by radiation processing. We use ultraviolet and/or visible light, electron beams, infrared, fast-paced laser pulses, microwave, gamma radiation, and other technologies to produce improved products. Radiation processing touches a majority of 3M’s technology platforms and is a critical element for product platforms ranging from adhesives and abrasives to dental and healthcare.
Featured Products: 3M™ Brightness Enhancement Film (3M BEF), 3M’s Filtek™ Bulk Fill Posterior Restorative, 3M™ Light Cure Adhesive
More than any other company, 3M delves into the surface of things. We create unique surfaces by modifying substrates (e.g. particulates, fibers, films) using gases, liquids, aerosols, or solids to change the properties of the interface between the substrate and a contacting layer or matrix. We also modify the surfaces of films and web materials using heat and vapor-processing technologies. These sophisticated tools allow us to improve the receptivity of a material to fluids and adhesives, alter hardness, enhance reflectivity, or create other novel characteristics.
Featured Products: 3M™ Transpore™ Surgical Tape, Scotch® Box Sealing Tape, Diamond Grand and High Intensity Retroreflective sheeting
Critical product performance characteristics often depend on a precise coating with a metal, oxide, or polymer. 3M has created this valuable vapor processing platform through the refinement of vacuum and non-vacuum technologies that evenly coat or remove nanometer to micron thick materials. Many of our current products owe their unique durability, reflectivity, barrier, optical and chemical properties to the company’s expertise in this specialised and high-performance manufacturing technology.
Featured Products: 3M™ Ultra Barrier Solar Film, 3M™ Thinsulate™ Window Film Climate Control, Scotchlite Reflective Materials