Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive Joints

Self-adhesive materials are called, in the adhesive industry, pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs). PSAs are designed in the shapes of latex, solvent borne resin, rubber solution, or hot melt and are being used for foils and films, tapes, labels, and notepads which can make permanent, removable, or semi-removable adhesive joints for applications of general purpose product assembly by simple contact under light pressure. This special class of adhesives does not undergo any physical transformation or chemical reaction during the bonding process. The end-use properties of PSAs result from the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of the adhesive material, and the elastomeric polymer basis of PSAs imparts them such a viscoelastic behavior caused by a carefully chosen polymer architecture and monomer composition with the proper addition of small molecules called tackifying resins. They are safe to use and easy to handle and thus are increasingly replacing more conventional types of adhesives. In this chapter, we review adhesion mechanism of PSAs, types of PSAs, adhesion properties and tests, mechanical behavior of joints, and especially different aspects of PSA applications