Studies on the water resistance of acrylic emulsion pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs)

Four different types of acrylic emulsion pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) with the same composition of their constituent co-polymers but stabilized by four different anionic surfactants, two conventional low-molecular-weight surfactants (a sodium salt and an ammonium salt) and two anionic monomers (a sodium salt and an ammonium salt) were prepared. The adhesion properties of the four types of PSA tapes coated onto PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate)) sheets were determined with the national standard methods of China. Water absorption and water solubility of PSA films were determined by the gravimetric method. The peel-strength retention of PSA tapes after immersion in water was compared. The results showed that both the adhesion properties and the water resistance of the acrylic PSAs stabilized by anionic monomers were better than that of the acrylic PSAs stabilized by low-molecular-weight surfactants, and the ammonium surfactants were better than the sodium surfactants. These differences were mainly caused by the different migration ability of the four surfactants in the PSA layers and their different hydrophilic nature, as explained in terms of surfactant content at the surfaces of PSA layers with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).     

A Probe on the Failure Mechanism in Rubber-Modified Epoxy Blends: Morphological and Acoustic Emission Analysis

In this work, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A based epoxy resin (DGEBA) was modified with varying amounts of two liquid rubbers: carboxyl terminated copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile (CTBN); and a hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), using an anhydride hardener. The ultimate aim of this study was to investigate the failure mechanism operating in the rubber-modified epoxies and to evaluate this by correlating these results with the miscibility and interfacial adhesion between the components and the morphology of the cured network. Some of the mechanical and fracture properties, which are associated with the two-phase particulate morphology, were investigated. The visoelastic behavior of modified epoxies was also analyzed and variations in the shift of T _g values in toughened epoxies were explained. The samples were carefully analyzed by an acoustic emission technique to investigate the failure mechanism operating in them. From the response of force and number of acoustic events as well as from the amplitude of acoustic events, we were able to explain the failure mechanisms in the elastomer incorporated epoxy resins supplemented by morphological evidence.     

Investigation of optimal surface treatments for carbon/epoxy composite adhesive joints

Although an adhesive joint can distribute the load over a larger area than a mechanical joint, requires no holes, adds very little weight to the structure and has superior fatigue resistance, but it not only requires a careful surface preparation of the adherends but also is affected by service environments. In this paper, suitable conditions for surface treatments such as plasma surface treatment, mechanical abrasion, and sandblast treatment were investigated to enhance the mechanical load capabilities of carbon/epoxy composite adhesive joints. A capacitively coupled radiofrequency plasma system was used for the plasma surface treatment of carbon/epoxy composites and suitable surface treatment conditions were experimentally investigated with respect to gas flow rate, chamber pressure, power intensity, and surface treatment time by measuring the surface free energies of treated specimens. The optimal mechanical abrasion conditions with sandpapers were investigated with respect to the mesh number of sandpaper, and optimal sandblast conditions were investigated with respect to sandblast pressure and particle size by observing geometric shape changes of adherends during sandblast process. Also the failure modes of composite adhesive joints were investigated with respect to surface treatment. From the peel tests on plasma treated composite adhesive joints, it was found that all composite adhesive joints failed cohesively in the adhesive layer when the surface free energy was higher than about 40 mJ/m², because of high adhesion strength between the plasma treated surface and the adhesive. From the peel tests on mechanically abraded composite adhesive joints, it was also found that the optimal surface roughness and adhesive thickness increased as the failure load increased.