Faster recovery: New approach improves pressure-sensitive adhesives
Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are essential in the electronics, automotive and medical technology industries. A recent study shows how polyurethane diacrylate (PUDA) as a crosslinker significantly increases the resilience of these adhesives.
Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) offer easy handling by adhering without the need for additional heat or solvents. Nevertheless, their mechanical stability remains a challenge, especially their slow recovery after stretching. A research team has now investigated polyurethane diacrylate (PUDA) as an alternative crosslinker to solve this problem.The results show that PUDA-based PSAs enable significantly faster recovery. While conventional PSAs crosslinked with 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) take about 61 seconds to fully recover, the recovery time of the PUDA variant is only 2.5 seconds. This represents a significant advance for applications that require high resilience, such as flexible electronic components.
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Increased adhesion and longevity
In addition to faster recovery, PUDA also improves the adhesion of the PSAs. The researchers report a 180° peel adhesion of 22 N per 25 mm, while a comparable commercial product only achieves 12.3 N per 25 mm. In addition, tests with 100 load cycles at 20% elongation show long-term stability, making these adhesives particularly suitable for demanding industrial applications. The study lays the foundation for higher-performance pressure-sensitive adhesives and could have a lasting impact on future developments in adhesive and coating technology.Source: Lee, G. et al. (2025): Polyurethane diacrylate incorporated pressure-sensitive adhesives with enhanced strain recovery. Polymer Chemistry, Issue 7.
