Polyacrylates

Properties and Applications

Polyacylates (PA) are soft, tough and rubbery materials with a glass transition point well below room temperature. They are known for their high transparency, good impact toughness, high elasticity, and fairly good heat resistance under dry heat. They also have good weatherability and ozone resistance since they do not have double bonds in the backbone.

The most common polyacrylates are polyethyl acrylate, polymethyl acrylate, polybutyl acrylate and polyethylhexyl acrylate. The monomers are often copolymerized with each other and with other compounds such as (meth)acrylic acid, styrene and various crosslinkable monomers to taylor the properties of the acrylic resin for a variety of end-use applications. Commercial polyacrylates are usually synthesized by free radical polymerization techniques including solution polymerization and oil-in-water emulsion polymerization. The acrylic resins produced by the latter method are known as acrylic latex resins and the former as solventborne acrylic resins.¹

Acrylic resins are widely used in paints, coatings, and printing inks. In fact, they are one of the most popular and widely used coatings binders. Most acrylic resins are either water- or solvent-based and are available as emulsions (latices), lacquers, or enamels. Besides paints, inks, and coatings, acrylic resins are used as pressure sensitive adhesives (PSA). They can be formulated with a large variety of adhesion properties, from low adhesion (barely tacky) to very high tack that bond permanently to a wide variety of surfaces. Acrylic PSAs are used for wide spectrum of adhesive applications including tapes, labels, graphics as well as masking and specialty packaging applications. They are often the best choice when clean removal, high clarity, low moisture absorption, and good weathering resistance are required or desired.