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The Effect of Polymer Microstructure and Thermal Post‐Treatment on Latex‐Based Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Performance
Author(s) -
Dubé Marc A.,
Qie Lili
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.201200066
Subject(s) - emulsion polymerization , materials science , polymer , microstructure , adhesive , methacrylate , emulsion , polymer chemistry , butyl acrylate , acrylic acid , acrylate , polymerization , methyl methacrylate , chemical engineering , composite material , copolymer , layer (electronics) , engineering
Summary: Butyl acrylate/acrylic acid/2‐hydroxyl methacrylate (BA/AA/HEMA, weight ratio: 96/2/2) latexes were produced via starved seeded semi‐batch emulsion polymerization. The microstructure of the latex polymers was controlled by varying the amount of chain transfer agent (1‐dodecanethiol). The latexes were characterized for gel content, M c (molecular weight between two adjacent cross‐linking points), M w (molecular weight of sol polymers) and M e (molecular weight between entanglements). From these latexes, PSA films were cast, dried, conditioned and then thermally post‐treated at 120 °C to react the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups from the AA and HEMA units. Tack, peel strength and shear strength of the PSA films were then measured. The thermal post‐treatment was shown to be an effective way to improve latex‐based PSA performance. The effectiveness of the post‐treatment was observed to depend on the polymer microstructure (M c relative to M e relative to M w ) of the untreated latex‐based PSAs and on the gel content.