Effect of the rheological properties of industrial hot-melt and pressure-sensitive adhesives on the peel behavior

Three factors govern the adhesion properties of hot-melt and pressure-sensitive adhesives: (1) thermodynamic interfacial properties (Dupré adhesion energy); (2) interfacial losses due to specific interactions; and (3) viscoelastic losses in the bulk related to the rheological properties of the adhesive. In the present paper, we focus on the main factor in the adhesion properties, which is the viscoelastic factor. We extend in this paper the results obtained on a series of model adhesives to the case of industrial formulations: one SIS triblock copolymer-based PSA formulation and one EVA copolymer-based hot-melt formulation. After studying the rheological properties of these adhesives over a wide frequency range using time-temperature equivalence, we present data obtained on peel tests at various temperatures. As with model adhesives, the peel rate-temperature equivalence leads to the same shift factors as rheology. The experiments demonstrate that there is a one-to-one relationship between the cohesive fracture domain and the terminal region of relaxation exhibited in rheological testing. The first interfacial fracture mode is related to the rubbery plateau, and the brittle interfacial fracture mode observed at high peel rates to the glassy behavior exhibited at very high frequencies in rheological measurements.