Adhesion performance of UV-cured semi-IPN structure acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives

Abstract

UV-curable solvent-free pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are gaining importance in the area of adhesives because of increasing environmental concerns and the goal to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in work areas and consumption places. These PSAs have advantages such as low emission of VOCs, a solvent-free process, a fast producton rate at ambient temperature and only a modest requirement for operating space. In this study, UV-curable PSAs were investigated by measuring their adhesion performance in terms of probe tack, peel strength, shear adhesion failure temperature (SAFT) and holding power. PSAs were synthesized from 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), acrylic acid (AA) and vinyl acetate (VAc), using variations in AA concentration to control the glass transition temperature (T g) of the prepared PSAs. In addition, two types of trifunctional monomers, trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) and trimethylolpropane ethoxylated (6) triacrylate (TMPEOTA), which have different chain lengths, were used to form semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) structures after UV exposure. With increasing AA concentration in the PSAs, both the T g and viscosity increased. Also, probe tack and SAFT increased, but peel strength decreased. After UV irradiation, probe tack decreased, and SAFT and peel strength increased as AA concentration increased in the PSAs. In most cases, cohesive failure changed to interfacial failure after UV exposure. Also, TMPTA increased the cohesion of PSAs; however, TMPEOTA affected the mobility of PSAs due to the different chain lengths of the two types of trifunctional monomer in a different way. The increase of TMPEOTA content diminished the cohesion of PSAs. Consequently, the adhesion performance of the PSAs was closely related to the T g of the PSAs, and the two types of trifunctional monomer showed different adhesion performances.