Shear Strength of Pressure Sensitive Adhesives and its Correlation to Mechanical Properties

Correlations between shear resistance and the mechanical properties of pressure sensitive adhesives are studied by measuring the deformation behaviour in the static and the dynamic shear test and determining the dynamic shear modulus of the adhesive. For polymers with low or moderate viscosities, the shear strain vs. time characteristics in a static shear test and, accordingly, the static shear strength, can be evaluated from the master curves of the dynamic shear modulus or the dynamic viscosity. The dynamic shear strength also can be calculated. These exact calculations cannot be applied to highly viscous or slightly crosslinked polymers. On the basis of the model experiments, empirical correlations between shear strength and the dynamic shear modulus are established which seem to be generally valid.