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Taking sustainable design to the next level with a smart adhesive that offers “Debonding on Demand”

Technologies

Smart and innovative tapes that debond on demand are enabling new product designs with the power to cut waste, boost recycling, enable product repairs and promote a circular economy across industries.

It has been a decades-long dream that has finally become a reality: our tesa® DoD tapes can last forever, but when there is the need to debond they debond on demand. This technological breakthrough is ushering in a new era of bonding.

The development of this technology towards “Debonding on Demand” also creates new possibilities for many industries in terms of product design, reworking during manufacturing, repairs during the use phase, and recycling at the end of the product's life cycle. As a result, we are entering a new world of possibilities in the field of bonding.

That means it’s possible to quickly attach, detach and even in some cases to reattach these smart tapes while having a reliable bonding strength. As a result, our tapes are highly attractive for companies that want to save resources and position themselves as sustainability pioneers in their industry while getting ahead of competitors and regulatory changes.

Saving resources and promoting circularity

A diverse and growing range of “Debonding on Demand” methods is now being integrated into adhesive tapes for a huge variety of products, from cell phones to car displays, Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries and beyond. Making it possible to rework parts during production helps save resources and cut waste because errors can be corrected instead of scrapping material. Repairing products extends their life cycle and eliminates the need to manufacture replacements. And enabling recycling of a broader range of products supports the transition to a circular economy, where materials stay in the economic cycle for longer and waste becomes a thing of the past.

We are cooperating with OEMs to develop tapes with debonding mechanism, and we are at an advanced stage of product development. tesa has developed the famous tape tesa® Bond & Detach in the last decade which enables mechanical release with residue-free removability. Now structural adhesives will be also debondable smartly with different triggers such as temperature, electricity, laser, electromagnetic induction, which intensively developed in our current Debonding on Demand scope and allows non-destructive disassembling for the first time - impossible in the past. The tesa “Debonding on Demand” Portfolio offers a mechanism for design freedom, based on different triggers, allowing our customers to redesign their devices to meet their sustainable design needs. Early engagement with the customer is key to ensuring that the debonding mechanism can be incorporated into the substrate, material, and overall design.

By combining our technology building blocks with the new “Debonding on Demand” concepts, we aim to offer customized solutions to meet the requirements of reliable bonding performance, smart debonding options and maximum design freedom.

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and more patents for Debonding on Demand adhesive tapes have scientific experts at tesa already filed.

The mechanisms for our tesa® DoD tapes:

01tesa® DoD – Electrical release

Low-voltage electricity can debond the tape within just a few seconds without residue on the substrate.

02tesa® DoD – Laser debonding

In just a few seconds, light from a Near Infrared (NIR) laser reacts with a special layer in the tape, causing it to debond. 

03tesa® DoD – Debondable adhesion promoter

The heat-debondable adhesion promoter can be triggered at elevated temperature (e.g. 130°C) to debond the tape from the substrate.

04tesa® DoD – Induction debonding

Just like modern kitchen stoves, electromagnetic fields are used to generate heat. A special backing in the tape responds to the contactless induction, causing separation of the bond.

05tesa® DoD – Solvent removable tapes

A small amount of solvent is applied to the bonded surface, which triggers the tape to debond.

06tesa® DoD – Stretch & release tapes

Developed from the famous tesa® Powerstrips, these tapes  tesa® Bond & Detach feature a tab that users simply pull to remove the tape.

Supporting big changes for electronics

The electronics industry is already embracing tesa’s “Debonding on Demand” portfolio. End users in this market want devices that are repairable, recyclable and sustainable. Changing regulations in the European Union are also driving popularity for smart “Debonding on Demand” technologies in this fast-moving market. The legislation aims to give consumers the right to repair products by themselves, for example, without special knowledge or tools. That’s a big challenge for device manufacturers. They urgently need solutions that enable them to design next-generation devices that meet this new set of legislative requirements.

An average smartphone already contains approximately 70 adhesive tapes from tesa, including technologies that secure the screen, battery and cameras. Now, “Debonding on Demand” functions are being added to more and more tapes to give consumers the freedom to extend the life of their device by cleaning, repairing or replacing parts. In this way, devices will stay usable for longer and the volume of electronic waste will decrease. In addition, our tapes make it possible to rework the tapes and cut scrap during manufacturing, and to carefully dismantle devices at the end of the lifecycle so components and valuable materials can be harvested for recycling.

tesa’s Bond & Detach® solutions

are used in more than 1.8 billion smartphones worldwide.

Enabling innovation for the automotive sector

In the automotive sector, by comparison, DoD adhesive tapes are only at the beginning of their journey. The road ahead still has plenty of twists and turns. The Council of the EU recently aligned new regulations to strengthen sustainability rules for batteries and waste batteries from production to reuse and recycling.

Initial applications mainly involve dashboard displays, where tesa’s “Debonding on Demand” portfolio already has a record of relevant success within the electronics market. As electric cars gain popularity, there are additional opportunities to use “Debonding on Demand” technologies in automotive applications such as battery mounting, cell mounting and battery box sealing. Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) also offer possibilities to support repair and recyclability in the automotive industry by enabling easier access to cameras, radar modules, electronic control units and other components within modern vehicles.

Opening up opportunities across industries

At first glance, to make the ever-lasting bonding tape debondable without compromising performance sounds like a contradiction and mission impossible. Therefore, smart “Debonding on Demand” technology attracts huge interests for the potential to enable contributions to sustainability for the circular economy across industries. Looking ahead, scientists at tesa are now seeking to build debonding mechanisms into more and more of its 7,000 products. Chemists, engineers, and product developers from tesa are engaging with customers to develop the optimal solutions for future designs. This growing trend for smart “Debonding on Demand” solutions is the latest step in tesa’s proud history of improving products and lives with innovative and sustainable adhesives for more than 125 years. And these bonding, debonding and re-bonding solutions are already gaining popularity with customers across markets worldwide.

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