Anja Schneider, Ph.D.
Senior Chemist PD
Henkel AG & Co. KgaA

Controlled Adhesion in Reactive Solution Acrylic PSAs

Adhesion to different substrates, bond strength and time needed to build it up are essential properties of an adhesive. Due to different applications the requirements for the bond strength can vary over a broad range from very low for removable applications to high for some graphic and tape applications. Between these extremes are applications where a “time window” of removability is requested, before full high bond strength occurs.

This contribution will give an impression about a new investigation at Henkel concerning repositionable adhesives for graphic and tape market. The development is based on the acrylic polymer technology (RRP) presented in the last two years. We looked into factors influencing the build up of adhesion and bond strength, resulting in an intelligent polymer design with a combination of different functional monomers and acrylic esters of different Tg in a stable 1-part system. This formulation allows a slow built up of bonds for a period of time to a substrate like stainless steel or glass and shows therefore removable properties first, followed by a final increase to full high bond strength with high temperature properties.