Origins and Effects of a Surfactant Excess near the Surface of Waterborne Acrylic Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives

An excess of anionic surfactant at the surface of waterborne acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) is identified through the complementary use of atomic force microscopy and elemental depth profiling with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. This surfactant is distributed around the particles at the film surface, where it presumably contributes to the stabilization of the particles against coalescence. This result is not consistent with the prediction of a process model of film formation that a coalesced skin layer should form, owing to the polymer's low zero-shear-rate viscosity (5 × 10 4 Pa s). To investigate the reason for the surface excess, the spatial distribution of water during film formation of the latex PSAs has been determined using magnetic resonance profiling. In the later stages of drying, the water concentration is very low near the surface, and it increases linearly with the depth into the film. The water profiles indicate that the deformation of particles is not accompanied by coalescence but that water-filled capillaries exist at particle boundaries. It is suggested that the transport of surfactant (and water-soluble polymer, ions, and other species) to the surface is driven by the capillary pressure.