Production of pressure sensitive adhesives

The history of pressure-sensitive adhesives

Pressure-sensitive tape originated in 1600 BC in the Han Dynasty period, in the Herbal Supplement, Huangdi Neijing, records the treatment of pain plaster cloth. It is the embryonic form of pressure-sensitive glue made of Chinese herbal medicine, turpentine, and animal glue. Later, it has been continued in the ointment products in the field of Chinese medicine. By the 8th century, ancient Egyptians discovered the use of pine balm and wax to make ointment and medicine.

The first patent for making medical plaster from natural rubber appeared in 1845. The industrial development of medical adhesives was first started by Johnson Brothers in the United States in 1870. After long-term research, they invented a medical adhesive for a long time in 1890. In 882, German pharmacist Beiersdorf added zinc oxide which could neutralize the acidity of rosin into natural rubber and rosin and made white zinc oxide plaster which was less irritating to the skin. This is the earliest modern pressure-sensitive adhesive product, so China and foreign countries are in the production of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape from the medical adhesive paste. It laid the foundation for today’s medical plaster. In the 1920s, the appearance of plastic pressure-sensitive adhesive tape for electrical insulation made pressure-sensitive adhesive products enter the field of industrial application.

However, it was not until R.G. Gray of 3M Company invented paper-based masking adhesive tape and transparent cellophane adhesive tape that the range of industrial applications of pressure-sensitive adhesive products was really expanded. Since then, two-sided adhesive tape, pressure-sensitive adhesive labels, adhesive sheets for printing, BOPP(directional tensile polypropylene) packaging tape, and many other uses of pressure-sensitive adhesive products have appeared. The pressure-sensitive adhesive materials used are also extended from natural rubber to various synthetic rubber, polyethylene ether, polyacrylate, silicone polymer and thermoplastic elastomer, and other synthetic materials.

Since the late 1950s, a series of basic theoretical issues such as the adhesion phenomenon, adhesion characteristics, and the relationship between the structure and performance of pressure-sensitive adhesives have been studied step by step, so that the development of pressure-sensitive adhesives and their products is gradually built on a solid foundation, especially after entering the 1960s, a variety of excellent performance acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive system development, The application range of pressure-sensitive adhesive products has been rapidly expanded, and the industry of pressure-sensitive adhesive and its products has also been developed at a high speed.