Interfacial fatigue fracture of pressure sensitive adhesives

TL;DR

This study investigates the interfacial fatigue fracture behavior of pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs), combining experimental cyclic and monotonic peeling tests with a theoretical model to understand their fracture mechanics and improve durability.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental characterization of PSA interfacial fatigue and develops a modified Lake-Thomas model to predict fatigue thresholds, advancing understanding of PSA fracture mechanics.

Findings

Interfacial fatigue threshold under cyclic peeling is 4.6 J/m2.

Monotonic crack threshold is 33.9 J/m2.

Adhesion toughness at finite peeling speed is approximately 400 J/m2.

Abstract

Pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are viscoelastic polymers that can form fast and robust adhesion with various adherends under fingertip pressure. The rapidly expanding application domain of PSAs, such as healthcare, wearable electronics, and flexible displays, requires PSAs to sustain prolonged loads throughout their lifetime, calling for fundamental studies on their fatigue behaviors. However, fatigue of PSAs has remained poorly investigated. Here we study interfacial fatigue fracture of PSAs, focusing on the cyclic interfacial crack propagation due to the gradual rupture of noncovalent bonds between a PSA and an adherend. We fabricate a model PSA made of a hysteresis-free poly(butyl acrylate) bulk elastomer dip-coated with a viscoelastic poly(butyl acrylate-co-isobornyl acrylate) sticky surface, both crosslinked by poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. We adhere the fabricated PSA to a polyester strip to form a bilayer. The bilayer is covered by another polyester film as an inextensible backing layer. Using cyclic and monotonic peeling tests, we characterize the interfacial fatigue and fracture behaviors of the bilayer. From the experimental data, we obtain the interfacial fatigue threshold (4.6 J/m2) under cyclic peeling, the slow crack threshold (33.9 J/m2) under monotonic peeling, and the adhesion toughness (~ 400 J/m2) at a finite peeling speed. We develop a modified Lake-Thomas model to describe the interfacial fatigue threshold due to noncovalent bond breaking. The theoretical prediction (2.6 J/m2) agrees well with the experimental measurement (4.6 J/m2). Finally, we discuss possible additional dissipation mechanisms involved in the larger slow crack threshold and much larger adhesion toughness. It is hoped that this study will provide new fundamental knowledge for fracture mechanics of PSAs, as well as guidance for future tough and durable PSAs.