ACOMP Monitors 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate and its comonomer based reactions
Background
The history of pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) dates back to the 1920s. Since PSAs are critical to the medical, engineering and construction industries, the demand for the adhesive is still growing. As reported by Tom Brown Inc.[4], the demand for pressure sensitive adhesive tape in 2017 was 39.2 billion square meters. This is expected to rise to 50 billion square meters by the end of 2018. PSA manufacturers continue research efforts to invent novel materials that are required to meet both customer demand and new applications.
The application quality of a PSA is determined by three main properties: tack, peel strength (adhesion) and shear strength (cohesion).[1,2] Various blends of reactant monomers such as acrylic acid and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2EHA) have been introduced into reaction systems to tailor the physical properties of PSA. The results of these chemistry and reactant changes are observed in the reaction kinetics, Molecular Weight (Mw), and Intrinsic Viscosity (IV) which vary from recipe to recipe. Conventional, off-line analysis on an end-product makes manufacturing and QC complicated and time consuming with a lack of systematic consistency. Introducing continuous, online monitoring of these characteristics leads to better quality and reaction process optimization, improving the R&D cycle and increasing manufacturing efficiency.
ACOMP is an online monitoring system that continuously analyzes polymer properties during production and in real time. ACOMP uses a well-known, non-chromatographic method to measure monomer and polymer concentration, intrinsic viscosity and weight average molecular weight. ACOMP’s automation and analysis software handles data acquisition, analysis and reporting in real time.