Large-Strain Mechanical Behavior of Model Block Copolymer Adhesives

Pressure-sensitive adhesives represent one of the most important commercial applications of block copolymers. The large-strain tensile properties of these soft adhesive materials play a dominant role in determining their adhesive properties. In many cases changes in the polymer architecture significantly affect the large-strain properties and the resultant adhesive performance, with little or no effect on the linear viscoelastic properties. In this Perspective we provide several examples, using model systems based oil diblock, triblock, tetrablock, and star-block copolymers of polystyrene and polyisoprene.