Pressure sensitive adhesive
Encyclopedia
Pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA, self adhesive, self stick adhesive) is adhesive
which forms a bond when pressure
is applied to marry the adhesive with the adherend. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesive.
It is used in pressure sensitive tape
s, label
s, note pads, automobile trim, and a wide variety of other products.
As the name "pressure sensitive" indicates, the degree of bond is influenced by the amount of pressure which is used to apply the adhesive to the surface.
Surface factors such as smoothness, surface energy
, removal of contaminants, etc. are also important to proper bonding.
PSAs are usually designed to form a bond and hold properly at room temperatures. PSAs typically reduce or lose their tack at cold temperatures and reduce their shear holding ability at high temperatures; special adhesives are made to function at high or low temperatures. It is important to choose an adhesive formulation which is designed for its intended use conditions.
of solvent
(for example, white glue), reaction with UV radiation (as in dental adhesives), chemical reaction
(such as two part epoxy
), or cooling (as in hot melt). In contrast, pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) form a bond simply by the application of light pressure to marry the adhesive with the adherend. Pressure sensitive adhesives are designed with a balance between flow and resistance to flow. The bond forms because the adhesive is soft enough to flow, or wet
, the adherend. The bond has strength because the adhesive is hard enough to resist flow when stress
is applied to the bond. Once the adhesive and the adherend are in proximity, there are also molecular interactions such as van der Waals forces involved in the bond, which contribute significantly to the ultimate bond strength. PSAs exhibit viscoelastic (viscous and elastic
) properties, both of which are used for proper bonding.
In contrast with structural adhesives, whose strength is evaluated as lap shear strength, pressure sensitive adhesives are characterized by their shear holding. The ability to hold in a shear mode is related to the formulation, coating thickness, rub-down, temperature, etc.
duct work, automotive interior trim assembly, and sound/vibration damping films. Some high performance permanent PSAs exhibit high adhesion values and can support kilograms of weight per square centimeter of contact area, even at elevated temperature. Permanent PSAs may be initially removable (for example to recover mislabeled goods) and build adhesion to a permanent bond after several hours or days.
Removable adhesives are designed to form a temporary bond, and ideally can be removed after months or years without leaving residue on the adherend. Removable adhesives are used in applications such as surface protection films, masking tape
s, bookmark and note papers
, price marking labels, promotional graphics materials, and for skin contact (wound care dressings, EKG
electrodes, athletic tape, analgesic and transdermal drug patches
, etc.). Some removable adhesives are designed to repeatedly stick and unstick. They have low adhesion and generally can not support much weight.
ing reaction and increase molecular weight. 100% solid PSAs may be low viscosity
polymers that are coated and then reacted with radiation to increase molecular weight and form the adhesive (radiation cured PSA); or they may be high viscosity materials that are heated to reduce viscosity enough to allow coating, and then cooled to their final form (hot melt PSA, HMPSA).
compounded with a suitable tackifier
(e.g., a rosin
ester
). The elastomers can be based on:
Adhesive
An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...
which forms a bond when pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
is applied to marry the adhesive with the adherend. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesive.
It is used in pressure sensitive tape
Pressure sensitive tape
Pressure-sensitive tape, known also in various countries as PSA tape, adhesive tape, self-stick tape, sticky tape, or just tape, is an adhesive tape that will stick with application pressure, without the need for solvent, heat, or water for activation...
s, label
Label
A label is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or article, on which is printed a legend, information concerning the product, addresses, etc. A label may also be printed directly on the container or article....
s, note pads, automobile trim, and a wide variety of other products.
As the name "pressure sensitive" indicates, the degree of bond is influenced by the amount of pressure which is used to apply the adhesive to the surface.
Surface factors such as smoothness, surface energy
Surface energy
Surface energy quantifies the disruption of intermolecular bonds that occur when a surface is created. In the physics of solids, surfaces must be intrinsically less energetically favorable than the bulk of a material, otherwise there would be a driving force for surfaces to be created, removing...
, removal of contaminants, etc. are also important to proper bonding.
PSAs are usually designed to form a bond and hold properly at room temperatures. PSAs typically reduce or lose their tack at cold temperatures and reduce their shear holding ability at high temperatures; special adhesives are made to function at high or low temperatures. It is important to choose an adhesive formulation which is designed for its intended use conditions.
Structural and pressure sensitive adhesives
Adhesives may be broadly divided in two classes: structural and pressure sensitive. To form a permanent bond, structural adhesives harden via processes such as evaporationEvaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
of solvent
Solvent
A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
(for example, white glue), reaction with UV radiation (as in dental adhesives), chemical reaction
Chemical reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...
(such as two part epoxy
Epoxy
Epoxy, also known as polyepoxide, is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives....
), or cooling (as in hot melt). In contrast, pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) form a bond simply by the application of light pressure to marry the adhesive with the adherend. Pressure sensitive adhesives are designed with a balance between flow and resistance to flow. The bond forms because the adhesive is soft enough to flow, or wet
Wetting
Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface, resulting from intermolecular interactions when the two are brought together. The degree of wetting is determined by a force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces.Wetting is important in the bonding or adherence of...
, the adherend. The bond has strength because the adhesive is hard enough to resist flow when stress
Stress (physics)
In continuum mechanics, stress is a measure of the internal forces acting within a deformable body. Quantitatively, it is a measure of the average force per unit area of a surface within the body on which internal forces act. These internal forces are a reaction to external forces applied on the body...
is applied to the bond. Once the adhesive and the adherend are in proximity, there are also molecular interactions such as van der Waals forces involved in the bond, which contribute significantly to the ultimate bond strength. PSAs exhibit viscoelastic (viscous and elastic
Elasticity (physics)
In physics, elasticity is the physical property of a material that returns to its original shape after the stress that made it deform or distort is removed. The relative amount of deformation is called the strain....
) properties, both of which are used for proper bonding.
In contrast with structural adhesives, whose strength is evaluated as lap shear strength, pressure sensitive adhesives are characterized by their shear holding. The ability to hold in a shear mode is related to the formulation, coating thickness, rub-down, temperature, etc.
Applications
Pressure sensitive adhesives are designed for either permanent or removable applications. Examples of permanent applications include safety labels for power equipment, foil tape for HVACHVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
duct work, automotive interior trim assembly, and sound/vibration damping films. Some high performance permanent PSAs exhibit high adhesion values and can support kilograms of weight per square centimeter of contact area, even at elevated temperature. Permanent PSAs may be initially removable (for example to recover mislabeled goods) and build adhesion to a permanent bond after several hours or days.
Removable adhesives are designed to form a temporary bond, and ideally can be removed after months or years without leaving residue on the adherend. Removable adhesives are used in applications such as surface protection films, masking tape
Masking tape
Masking tape is a type of pressure sensitive tape made of a thin and easy-to-tear paper, and an easily released pressure sensitive adhesive. It is available in a variety of widths. It is used mainly in painting, to mask off areas that should not be painted...
s, bookmark and note papers
Post-it note
A Post-it note is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. Although now available in a wide range of colours, shapes, and sizes, Post-it notes are most commonly a square, canary yellow in colour...
, price marking labels, promotional graphics materials, and for skin contact (wound care dressings, EKG
Electrocardiogram
Electrocardiography is a transthoracic interpretation of the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time, as detected by electrodes attached to the outer surface of the skin and recorded by a device external to the body...
electrodes, athletic tape, analgesic and transdermal drug patches
Transdermal patch
A transdermal patch is a medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream. Often, this promotes healing to an injured area of the body. An advantage of a transdermal drug delivery route over other types of...
, etc.). Some removable adhesives are designed to repeatedly stick and unstick. They have low adhesion and generally can not support much weight.
Manufacture
Pressure sensitive adhesives are manufactured with either a liquid carrier or in 100% solid form. Articles such as tapes and labels are made from liquid PSAs by coating the adhesive on a support and evaporating the organic solvent or water carrier, usually in a hot air dryer. The dry adhesive may be further heated to initiate a cross-linkCross-link
Cross-links are bonds that link one polymer chain to another. They can be covalent bonds or ionic bonds. "Polymer chains" can refer to synthetic polymers or natural polymers . When the term "cross-linking" is used in the synthetic polymer science field, it usually refers to the use of...
ing reaction and increase molecular weight. 100% solid PSAs may be low viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...
polymers that are coated and then reacted with radiation to increase molecular weight and form the adhesive (radiation cured PSA); or they may be high viscosity materials that are heated to reduce viscosity enough to allow coating, and then cooled to their final form (hot melt PSA, HMPSA).
Composition
PSAs are usually based on an elastomerElastomer
An elastomer is a polymer with the property of viscoelasticity , generally having notably low Young's modulus and high yield strain compared with other materials. The term, which is derived from elastic polymer, is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, although the latter is preferred...
compounded with a suitable tackifier
Tackifier
Tackifiers are chemical compounds used in formulating adhesives to increase the tack, the stickiness of the surface of the adhesive. They are usually low-molecular weight compounds with high glass transition temperature...
(e.g., a rosin
Rosin
.Rosin, also called colophony or Greek pitch , is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components. It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black...
ester
Ester
Esters are chemical compounds derived by reacting an oxoacid with a hydroxyl compound such as an alcohol or phenol. Esters are usually derived from an inorganic acid or organic acid in which at least one -OH group is replaced by an -O-alkyl group, and most commonly from carboxylic acids and...
). The elastomers can be based on:
- Acrylics, which can have sufficient tack on their own to not require a tackifier.
- Bio-based acrylate. Recently, a biological-based macromonomer was grafted onto a backbone of acrylate so that the resulting PSA uses 60% bio-based materials.
- Butyl rubberButyl rubberButyl rubber is a synthetic rubber, a copolymer of isobutylene with isoprene. The abbreviation IIR stands for Isobutylene Isoprene Rubber. Polyisobutylene, also known as "PIB" or polyisobutene, n, is the homopolymer of isobutylene, or 2-methyl-1-propene, on which butyl rubber is based...
- Ethylene-vinyl acetateEthylene-vinyl acetateEthylene vinyl acetate is the copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate. The weight percent vinyl acetate usually varies from 10 to 40%, with the remainder being ethylene....
(EVA) with high vinyl acetate content; can be formulated as a hot-melt PSA. - Natural rubber
- NitrileNitrileA nitrile is any organic compound that has a -C≡N functional group. The prefix cyano- is used interchangeably with the term nitrile in industrial literature. Nitriles are found in many useful compounds, one example being super glue .Inorganic compounds containing the -C≡N group are not called...
s - Silicone rubberSilicone rubberSilicone rubber is an elastomer composed of silicone—itself a polymer—containing silicon together with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Silicone rubbers are widely used in industry, and there are multiple formulations...
s, requiring special tackifiers based on "MQ" silicate resins, composed of a monofunctional trimethyl silane ("M") reacted with quadrafunctional silicon tetrachlorideSilicon tetrachlorideSilicon tetrachloride is the inorganic compound with the formula SiCl4. It is a colourless volatile liquid that fumes in air. It is used to produce high purity silicon and silica for commercial applications.-Preparation:...
("Q"). - Styrene block copolymers (SBC), also called styrene copolymer adhesives and rubber-based adhesives, have good low-temperature flexibility, high elongation, and high heat resistance. Frequently used in hot melt adhesive applications, where the composition retains tack even when solidified; however non-pressure-sensitive formulations are also used. High heat resistance, good low-temperature flexibility. Lower strength than polyesters. They usually have A-B-A structure, with an elastic rubber segment between two rigid plastic endblocks. High-strength film formers as standalone, increase cohesion and viscosity as an additive. Water-resistant, soluble in some organic solvents; cross-linking improves solvent resistance. Resins associating with endblocks (cumarone-indene, α-methyl styrene, vinyl toluene, aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.) improve adhesion and alter viscosity. Resins associating to the midblocks (aliphatic olefins, rosin esters, polyterpenes, terpene phenolics) improve adhesion, processing and pressure-sensitive properties. Addition of plasticizers reduces cost, improves pressure-sensitive tack, decrease melt viscosity, decrease hardness, and improve low-temperature flexibility. The A-B-A structure promotes a phase separation of the polymer, binding together the endblocks, with the central elastic parts acting as cross-links; SBCs do not require additional cross-linking.http://books.google.cz/books?id=fZl7q7UgEXkC&pg=PA484&dq=hot-melt-adhesive+tack+resin&lr=&num=50&as_brr=3&hl=fi&cd=8#v=onepage&q=&f=false
- Styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), used in high-strength PSA applications
- Styrene-ethylene/butyleneButyleneIn chemistry, butylene may be an alternate name for the hydrocarbon butene, . It is also a divalent functional group with formula 2• that can be seen as the result of removing two hydrogen atoms from a butane molecule, leaving two free bonds....
-styrene (SEBS), used in low self-adhering non-woven applications - Styrene-ethylene/propylene (SEP)
- Styrene-isopreneIsopreneIsoprene , or 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene, is a common organic compound with the formula CH2=CCH=CH2. Under standard conditions it is a colorless liquid...
-styrene (SIS), used in low-viscosity high-tack PSA applications
- Vinyl ethers
See also
- Blu-tackBlu-TackBlu-Tack is a versatile, reusable putty-like pressure-sensitive adhesive produced by Bostik, commonly used to attach papers to walls or other surfaces....
- Gaffer tapeGaffer tapeGaffer tape, gaffer's tape, gaff tape or gaffa tape is a strong, tough, cotton cloth pressure sensitive tape with strong adhesive properties. It is used in theater, film and television productions as well as during live performances and any other kind of stage work...
- Post-it notePost-it noteA Post-it note is a piece of stationery with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back, designed for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. Although now available in a wide range of colours, shapes, and sizes, Post-it notes are most commonly a square, canary yellow in colour...
- RheologyRheologyRheology is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in the liquid state, but also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force....
- Self-adhesive stampSelf-adhesive stampA self-adhesive stamp is a postage stamp with a pressure sensitive adhesive that does not require moistening in order to adhere to paper. They are usually issued on a removable backing paper....
- ViscoelasticityViscoelasticityViscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like honey, resist shear flow and strain linearly with time when a stress is applied. Elastic materials strain instantaneously when stretched and just...
Further reading
- "Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives and Applications", Istvan Benedek, 2004, ISBN 0824750594
- "Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes", J. Johnston, PSTC, 2003, ISBN 0972800107
- "Pressure Sensitive Formulation", I. Benedek, VSP, 2000, ISBN 9067643300