ABSTRACT
For the rational design of new pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs), insight into the molecular structures of materials manifesting pressure-sensitive adhesion and the knowledge of quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) are keenly needed. Th e design of adhesives remains mostly empirical because the QSPR are not well known. PSAs exhibit diff erent chemical compositions1,2 and, at fi rst glance, this makes the problem of eliciting the specifi c features of their molecular structure that provide pressure-sensitive adhesion irresolvable. However, let us recall that PSAs have allied physical properties:3 specifi ed values of glass transition temperatures (Tg),3,4 elasticity modulus (G′),5-7 loss tangent (tan δ),8 solubility parameters,9 and other physical properties. Because a material’s properties infl uence how its molecular structure functions, similarity in the properties of PSAs signifi es closely related structures of PSA materials of various chemical compositions at a supramolecular level. Th e subject of this chapter is to move toward the emergence of a structure that makes materials tacky and provides the properties of typical PSAs.
