Relation of Pressure Sensitive Properties and UV-Crosslinking Technology, 1998 Hot Melt Symposium Proceedings

The PSA properties of UV-crosslinkable hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesives are guided by the response of the adhesive to the parameters of the irradiation process., UV-dose and temperature during the crosslinking process should be controlled if reproducible results are to be obtained. The knowledge about the influence of adjustable process conditions on the crosslinking result offers the unique opportunity to produce pressure sensitive products with different characteristics from a single adhesive without the effort of formulating or blending the raw material. UV-crosslinking also offers the possibility to create patterns of more or less irradiated areas in the adhesive coating by the use of masks, grids and templates. The overall properties of the pressure sensitive material can then additionally be controlled by the size and structure of the pattern and the quantitative distribution of irradiated and shaded areas. The functional separation of high-tack and highly shear resistant areas of the adhesives can be used to create new products with rare features. The experimental part of the paper compares tack, peel and shear data of acrylic UV-crosslinkable hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesives for standard and pattern processing.