Adhesion properties of UV crosslinked polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene copolymer and tackifier mixture

The peel and tack properties of mixtures of polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene (SBS) and a tackifier were investigated after these were crosslinked by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation at various amounts of benzophenone (BP) as a photoinitiator and trimethylolpropane mercaptopropionate (TRIS) as a crosslinking agent. The degree of crosslinking of polybutadiene (PB) block in the SBS mixture was qualitatively estimated from the amount of gel fraction as well as the change in the glass transition temperature of the PB block. The crosslinking of the PB block was (lone within 3 min after UV irradiation and the peel strength of crosslinked specimens was as low as 45% of specimens without crosslinking. Nano-tack and bulk tack properties as well as the surface tension of mixtures were measured depending upon amounts of BP and TRIS. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.