Influence of rheology on renewable pressure-sensitive adhesives from a triblock copolymer

Abstract

A poly(lactide-b-β-methyl-δ-valerolactone-b-lactide) (LVL) triblock copolymer was used to create fully sustainable pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) that have promising commercial viability due to the low cost of both monomers. A common rosin ester tackifier was found to preferentially solubilize the midblock and was miscible up to 50% by weight. It was used to lower the modulus of the LVL triblock to satisfy the Dahlquist criterion. Small amplitude oscillatory shear, nonlinear shear creep, and uniaxial extensional data were correlated to tack, 180° peel, and shear resistance adhesion results. “Viscoelastic windows” were constructed for PSAs with 30%, 40%, and 50% tackifier and were used to identify potential candidates for general-use PSAs like Post-it® Notes.