Adhesion Matters - Tape Solutions for Consumer Electroncs (Tesa)

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

Tesa has an extensive range of adhesive tape solutions specifically designed for consumer electronics, including smartphones, tablets, AR/VR devices, and smartwatches. For various tape categories such as structural bonding, functional, and display lamination solutions, they maintain a high commitment to sustainability through recycled materials and innovations like "Bond & Detach" for easier disassembly. This episode highlights Tesa's global presence and comprehensive technical support, including advanced Finite Element Analysis (FEA) capabilities, which allows them to partner with customers in developing tailored adhesive solutions.

Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're looking at something you probably touch every day, but maybe don't think much about. Grab your smartphone, glance at your smart watch, maybe picture a VR headset. Amazing devices, right? Packed with tech. But have you ever really stopped to think about how all those tiny, intricate parts are actually held together? And maybe more importantly, why does that even matter? That's a great question.

Because it seems simple, you know, just digging things together. Yeah. But in reality, it's this. incredibly sophisticated area, material science, engineering, it all comes together. So today, our deep dive is all about the, let's say, surprising world of advanced adhesive tape solutions, specifically in consumer electronics. Exactly. And our mission here is to sort of unpack how these aren't just, you know, sticky tapes. They're actually crucial engineering components. They make our gadgets work. They

make them last. And now even help make them more sustainable. And we're basing this on a really comprehensive set of materials from a leading adhesive manufacturer in this space. They really know their stuff. They certainly do. And we're not talking about your average desk tape here. These are highly specialized custom engineered adhesive solutions. This manufacturer, they have a huge global presence, sales offices, R&D centers, factories. And importantly, these customer solution centers with technical experts, they work hand in hand with the device makers. Right. So it's much more than just selling a product. It's like a partnership and design. And this is where I found it gets really fascinating. They use something called

finite element analysis, FIA. Now that sounds super technical, almost sci-fi. Can you break that down? What is F-E-A and why is it such a big deal? Yeah, FEA. It's a really powerful tool. It essentially lets engineers build virtual models. They can predict with amazing accuracy how materials and components will behave under, well, all sorts of conditions. Stress, heat, impacts, dynamic situations before they even build a physical prototype. This is like a virtual stress test. Exactly. They can simulate dropping a phone or how heat builds up or how a bond holds under pressure.

And the practical benefits, huge. You can optimize designs way faster, cut down development costs, and really boost the final product's reliability. Okay, so when you drop your phone, and let's be honest, we all do, and it doesn't shatter. Or your smartwatch survives a sweaty workout or freezing cold. that reliability is partly thanks to simulations like FEA done beforehand. A big part of it, yes. It allows manufacturers to foresee problems, strengthen weed points.

It means they can iterate designs much more quickly and confidently. So, yeah, that device in your hand is more resilient because of this kind of upfront digital work. It anticipates the wear and tear of daily life. That's pretty incredible foresight. And it means these specialized tapes are probably everywhere inside our devices, right? solving problems you couldn't fix with, say, a tiny screw? Absolutely everywhere. The range of applications is vast.

Let's take the smartphone. Almost everyone has one. Okay, yeah. Where are these tapes hiding in my phone? Well, think about the screen, the cover glass frame, often mounted with adhesive tape, the display itself, laminated using specialized tapes. It's not just about sticking it on. These tapes absorb shock.

They help manage heat. They can even provide electrical shielding, all in incredibly thin layers. Wow. So multiple jobs from one tiny piece of tape. Precisely. They're also key for mounting components like the battery, which is always tricky to integrate safely and securely. And camera lenses.

Think about the precision needed there. Adhesives provide that secure, precise mounting. Okay, that makes sense for standard phones. But what about, say, foldable smartphones? Those seem like a whole different challenge. All that bending? Oh, completely different. A huge challenge.

The flexible display, the complex hinge mechanism. How do you make sure that holds up after? thousands and thousands of folds. Specialized tapes are absolutely critical there. For mounting the display bezel, for the hinge components, providing bonds that are both strong and flexible, they even need specific tapes for shielding and grounding the flexible circuits, the FPCs, that allow the phone to bend. And moving into newer tech, like AR or VR headsets, I imagine things like weight and optical clarity become even more critical. You got it. For ARVR, you need tapes for mounting camera lenses and laminating displays where optical clarity is absolutely

non-negotiable. Any distortion ruins the experience. They're also used for shielding, grounding, mounting those flexible circuits again, even for things like mounting the little vibrators and controllers or attaching soft padding, all while keeping things light and precisely aligned. And the opposite end of the size scale smartwatches. Everything shrunk down. How do tapes work in such tiny spaces? Miniaturization is its own beast. Smartwatches push the limits. You need tapes for mounting the cover lens, laminating the tiny display,

integrating flexible circuits and antennas in almost no space. Battery mounting is crucial in that confined area. Even side keys, sensors on the back, plus thermal management, grounding. These tiny adhesive layers are doing a lot of heavy lifting to make that complex device on your wrist work reliably. It really sounds like they're the unsung heroes inside these gadgets.

And this manufacturer, they also seem really focused on sustainability. How does that connect with making, well, sticky tape? It connects deeply, actually. They view it as central to their mission, tackling climate change, driving positive change. It affects their sourcing, their own manufacturing, and the products themselves. For instance, they track their energy use really carefully following the greenhouse gas protocol. Okay. And get this.

Since 2020, 100% of the electricity they buy comes from renewable sources. They're also pushing for carbon neutrality in their plants. like their Hamburg plant connecting to a hydrogen network that's projected to save about 6,000 metric tons of CO2 a year. Real tangible steps. That's significant for their own operations. But what about their suppliers? It's a global supply chain that must be hard to manage responsibly. It's definitely a challenge, no doubt.

But they tackle it head on. They focus on supplier traceability, making sure they know where materials come from. They push for raw material certifications. They constantly evaluate suppliers on things like fair working conditions, human rights, environmental protection. Plus, they participate in industry groups to try and lift standards everywhere. And it's not just them saying that they've got external recognition, like being rated A for climate by CDP and achieving EcoVitis gold status. That adds credibility. Yeah, those independent ratings mean a lot. And they stress that sustainability doesn't mean

sacrificing performance, right. Exactly. They see it as interconnected, quality, innovation, performance, and sustainability. They have hundreds of scientists and engineers work. working on this stuff. Like expanding the use of recycled materials, bio-based materials, too. We're talking phone tapes, film tapes, even those electrically conductive ones, incorporating more sustainable content. Recycled content in high-tech tape. Interesting. Yeah. And reducing non-recycled fossil plastics overall. They use a detailed carbon footprint database for their products, conduct external life cycle assessments. It's a very science-driven approach. Okay. But adhesives. They stick things together permanently, usually. How does that

fit with a circular economy idea. You know, repairability, recycling, that seems like a contradiction, especially with new regulations pushing for devices to be easier to take apart. That's the million dollar question, isn't it? And this is where things get really innovative with something they call debonding on demand. Think about their TZ bond and detach technology. It's patented.

It creates a strong permanent bond, totally secure for the life of the product, beauty. But it can be designed so that if you apply a specific trigger, like stretching the tape in a particular way. The bond releases cleanly. No damage, no sticky residue. No, so you can basically unstick it when you need to for repairs or recycling. Exactly. It opens up huge possibilities. Imagine easily replacing a battery or a crack screen because the adhesive, let's go on demand. It could dramatically cut waste, make recycling far more efficient, and able repairs that just weren't feasible for, really pushed towards that circular model. That makes you think about all the electronics we throw away because it's impossible to fix. Right. This tech,

could change that. It can even be used for temporary fixing during manufacturing, hold something in place, then remove it cleanly for the next step. They're also working on reducing the plastic liners on tape rolls and piloting programs to collect and reuse the plastic end caps from tape rules delivered to customers. They've recovered something like 165,000 of those already. It's all about giving device makers the tools these versatile building blocks to improve reworkability, repairability, and recyclability. Okay, so we have these incredibly engine. engineered, sustainable, sometimes even debondable tapes. Let's get into the different types.

It sounds like a massive toolbox. It really is. There's a huge variety, each tailored for specific jobs. Let's start with structural bonding solutions. These are for when you need serious strength. High bonding power, resistance to chemicals, aging, the works. And they're designed to be easy to process in manufacturing, easy to cut into precise shapes, stable enough to handle immediately, low oozing of adhesive.

And I see there are different kinds even within that. Heat activated, light curing. Right. It depends on the application in the manufacturing process. Heat activated films use heat, maybe 120 degrees Celsius or sometimes lower, like 75 degrees, to trigger a chemical reaction called cross-linking. That creates an incredibly strong, irreversible bond, rock solid. Then you have light curing tapes.

These cure at room temperature when you expose them to specific light, often UV light. They bond much stronger than typical pressure-sensitive tapes and have, high initial tack, which is great for speed. So different ways to get super strong bonds depending on whether the parts can handle heat or if you need to stick fast. Precisely. Then you have foam tapes. These are fascinating.

For foam, like spongy tape. What's that for? Sort of, but highly engineered foam. Think acrylic phone tapes. They use a property called viscoelasticity. Imagine something that's both elastic like a rubber band and viscous like honey. It gives them amazing inner strength. They could absorb impacts like from dropping your phone and relaxed mechanical stresses,

between parts, great for shock absorption, bonding, and even waterproofing. And importantly, they're developing versions with significant bio-based content up to 66%. Bio-based foam tape, okay. And there are also PE foam tapes, polyethylene foam. These are well-proven solutions, maybe more general purpose, but still high-performing for impact resistance, bonding, waterproofing. They can have specific features, too, like being good at filling gaps, high sheer resistance, preventing parts from pushing away from each other, anti-repulsion.

Some are heat removable for rework. Got it. Strong tapes, shock absorbing tapes. What about just general sticking stuff together? That brings us to double-sided film tapes. These are often the workhorses. You have your high-performance versions, top-tier bonding strength, peel, push-out, sheer resistance, high-impact resistance, really good for tough jobs, like mounting lenses or batteries.

And these often use recycled peat, plastic, and bile-based adhesives. Then there are specialized ones, focusing on a unique need, maybe, resisting repulsion on tricky surfaces, or having different stickiness on each side, chemical resistance, easy reworkability or even blocking light. And finally, balanced performance tapes, versatile, good all-rounders for general mounting, laminating things together, bonding cushioning materials, good tack, good bonding, easy to die cut. Okay, that covers a lot of mounting and bonding. But you mentioned functional tapes earlier.

What functions are we talking about? These tapes do more than just stick. For example, covering tapes, usually polyester or polymite films. They might be used for aesthetics, just making something look sleek and black, or critical light blocking inside an LCD screen's backlight unit, or providing electrical insulation on circuit boards. And again, options here with recycled PET and bio-based content are becoming available. And electrical conductivity. That seems crucial in electronics. Absolutely.

So you have electrically conductive solutions. These need to balance conducting electricity with sticking properly. Double-sided versions come with different backings like woven fabric. for tear resistance and reworkability or non-woven material for conforming better to surfaces. There are also single-sided conductive tapes often used for shielding housings or

covering components and even single-sided conductive foam tapes. These are great for shielding but also filling gaps, grounding and providing shock absorption because of the foam. Makes sense. And keeping things cool. Heat is always the enemy. Definitely. That's where thermal management tapes come in. Their main job is efficient

heat transfer. They need excellent bonding to make good contact with surface. maximizing that heat transfer away from our components. They're often incredibly thin down to 10 micrometers. And they need high electrical insulation properties too, what's called breakdown voltage to prevent shorts. Tiny heat-conducting insulating tapes. Wow.

And finally, the display itself, we see it, we touch it, optically clear adhesive's OCA's. Yes, OCAs are vital. They have to be perfectly clear. With no distortions or haze, they're made in ultra-clean rooms to prevent any dustbacks. They need to be environmentally stable, compatible with all the other layers in the display stack, used for laminating the cover lens to the display, bonding touch panels, crucial in ARVR.

And Vellman is always ongoing. New OCA's for thinner designs, better resistance to mirror those subtle visual imperfections, especially for demanding automotive displays, and even UV-blocking versions for future display types. So bringing this all together, we started thinking about our sleek gadgets and how they're held together. And what we found is that this seemingly simple sticking is actually this incredibly deep field. It's material science, it's advanced engineering, simulation, and now a really strong, necessary push towards sustainability and circularity. These invisible adhesive layers are just fundamental. They really are.

Fundamental to making devices compact, powerful, durable, and increasingly more eco-conscious. It really makes you appreciate the hidden ingenuity inside everyday objects, doesn't it? So next time you pick up your phone or put on your watch, maybe take a second to think about those unseen layers of advanced adhesive working away. And perhaps wonder what other mundane materials or components in totally different industries are undergoing similar quiet revolutions that might just reshape our future.