Pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA, self adhesive, self stick adhesive) is adhesive which forms 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 tapes, labels, 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 low 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 [edit]

Adhesives may be broadly divided in two classes: structural and pressure sensitive. To form a permanent bond, structural adhesives harden via processes such as evaporation 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.

Applications [edit]

Post-it notes

Pressure sensitive adhesives are designed for either permanent or removable applications. Examples of permanent applications include safety labels for power equipment, foil tape for HVAC 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 tapes, 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.

Manufacture [edit]

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-linking 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).

Composition [edit]

PSAs are usually based on an elastomer compounded with a suitable tackifier (e.g., a rosin ester). 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.^[1]
• Butyl rubber
• Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) with high vinyl acetate content; can be formulated as a hot-melt PSA.
• Natural rubber
• Nitriles
• Silicone rubbers, requiring special tackifiers based on "MQ" silicate resins, composed of a monofunctional trimethyl silane ("M") reacted with quadrafunctional silicon tetrachloride ("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.^[2] 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.[1]
  • Styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), used in high-strength PSA applications
  • Styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS), used in low self-adhering non-woven applications
  • Styrene-ethylene/propylene (SEP)
  • Styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS), used in low-viscosity high-tack PSA applications
• Vinyl ethers

See also [edit]

• Blu-tack
• Gaffer tape
• Post-it note
• Rheology
• Self-adhesive stamp
• Viscoelasticity

Further reading [edit]

• "Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives and Applications", Istvan Benedek, 2004, ISBN 0-8247-5059-4
• "Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes", J. Johnston, PSTC, 2003, ISBN 0-9728001-0-7
• "Pressure Sensitive Formulation", I. Benedek, VSP, 2000, ISBN 90-6764-330-0

References [edit]