Relating polymer microstructure to adhesive performance in blends of hybrid polyurethane/acrylic latexes

The adhesive properties of pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are typically explained on the basis of the molecular weight of the soluble part of the polymer and the gel content. In this work, the potential of using these criteria for fine tuning the performance of PSAs obtained by blending latexes of different characteristics is investigated. It was found that characterization of a PSA in terms of gel fraction and sol molecular weight is an oversimplification and that the whole molecular weight distribution determined by Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (AsFlFFF) is needed for a meaningful polymer microstructure-adhesive properties relationship. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.