• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.89-95
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• 2016

An environmentally friendly water-based pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) was designed in an attempt to replace the solvent-based adhesive for dry lamination used in flexible food packaging films. Instead of using a low molecular weight surfactant, which may have variable material properties, a high molecular weight dispersant was used for emulsification. A polymeric nano-dispersant (PND) was synthesized using solution polymerization, and it was used as a micelle seed in the surfactant, resulting in the synthesis of a core/shell grafted acrylic adhesive. The shell and core exhibited different $T_g$ values, so that the initial adhesion strength and holding power were complemented by the film's flexibility, which is required to provide good adhesion of thin films. Results showed that the PSA designed in this study using the PND instead of traditional low molecular weight surfactant had adhesive properties applicable to the flexible packaging with appropriate tack.