Synthesis and properties of poly(acrylates-co-urethane) adhesives for low surface energy materials

The series of poly(acrylates-co-urethane) were synthesized based on the copolymerization between 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate terminated polyether (or polyester) urethane and acrylate monomers initiated by tri-n-butylborane (TBB). The effects of the soft segment of polyether (or polyester) urethane diacrylate on the copolymer properties were mainly discussed. Polyether (or polyester) urethane was relatively well dispersed in polyacrylate continuous phase, and was intended to aggregate with the increase of soft segment polarity and content. The adhesion to low surface energy materials and loss factor (tan δ) of copolymers were almost not influenced by the soft segment content, but decreased with the increase of soft segment polarity within the scope of the study. On the other hand, the working life of copolymers as adhesives was shortened with the increase of soft segment polarity, but prolonged with the increase of soft segment content. The copolymers with different structures of polyether (or polyester) urethane diacrylate were also shown to be good candidates as adhesives at room temperature.