UV crosslinkable microsphere pressure sensitive adhesives—influence on adhesive properties

In the following study, a synthesis and characterization of UV crosslinkable acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives are presented. Different amounts of unsaturated photoinitiator 4-acryloyloxy benzophenone (4-ABF) were added in t-butyl acrylate/2-ethylhexyl acrylate monomer mixture and then polymerized using a suspension polymerization technique. The adhesive suspension was coated on a pilot coating machine, dried by application of IR and subsequently crosslinked under UV light. The copolymerized 4-ABF photoinitiator will produce reactive radicals upon absorption of UV light, which are capable of initiating a rapid chain reaction with neighboring C–H positions of polymer side chains, what leads to formation of crosslinked polymer structures. UV crosslinking process was monitored by ATR-FTIR spectroscopic technique. Adhesion properties of the synthesized materials were determined using standard measurements of tack, peel and shear strength. Results have shown that all adhesive properties are strongly influenced by the degree of crosslinking of the microspheres, which increased with higher amounts of added 4-ABF photoinitiator. All the three measured adhesive properties showed a substantial decrease even at small amounts of added 4-ABF. The decrease in adhesion may be correlated with higher crosslinking density, what also resulted in higher gel phase amounts. Determination of glass transition temperature showed minor difference between adhesive coatings.