CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSA) are tacky and viscoelastic materials that adhere instantly to a variety of substrates under light pressure at room temperature without chemical changes. PSAs find wide applications in a huge market ranging from tapes to packaging [1-3]. Since commercial PSAs are mainly based on petrochemical-derived polymers the developing of PSA from renewable resources is both economically attractive and socially responsible. Recent efforts have been made to develop PSAs from plant oils. Fatty acid derivatives are one of the most attractive as starting materials because of their renewable nature, universal availability, biodegradability and low cost [1-2, 4]. In this sense, this work describes the development and characterization of renewable PSAs with tailored properties. We investigated a simple and solvent-free approach for the development of renewable PSAs from epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) and sebacic acid (SA). ESO was crosslinked and polymerized directly at different ratios, ranging from 0.75-2 ?COOH/epoxy molar ratio, in the presence or absence of stannous octanoate as a catalyst. ESO and SA were first mixed at 300 rpm for 10 min and 80-130ºC, and then cured between two release sheets at 160ºC for 80min. ESO-SA un cured mixtures and cured adhesives were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). FTIR results revealed that the reaction between oxirane internal groups from ESO and ?COOH took place, producing new ester linkages and secondary hydroxyl groups [1]. The polymerization of the ESO-SA mixtures gave a tacky gel, with great potential for PSA applications. Adhesives with ?COOH/epoxy molar ratio among 1-1.5 showed the best balance between cohesiveness and adhesive strength.

enviar mensaje