Microscopic morphology of blends between a new “all-acrylate” radial block copolymer and a rosin ester resin for pressure sensitive adhesives

With the goal of developing new pressure sensitive adhesive systems, the miscibility and the phase morphology of blends between novel symmetric four-arm star “all-acrylate” block copolymers synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and a rosin ester resin tackifier was studied with a combined differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) approach. Copolymer-resin compositions with increasing resin content in the blend were studied. The DSC results show good miscibility for compositions lower than 60 wt%, with a single glass transition at a temperature between those of the two pure compounds. The AFM results indicate that the initial two-phase morphology typical of the block copolymer matrix is preserved up to 60 wt% of resin. Above that value, a third phase, attributed to aggregates of the pure resin, is observed. Upon ageing, the homogeneous systems (e.g., blends with 40 wt% of resin) undergo a slow migration of the tackifying resin towards the surface of the sample, which can be understood in terms of surface free energy considerations. This eventually leads to the formation of a layer of pure resin at the surface.