Synthesis and adhesion property of waterborne polyurethanes with different ionic group contents

In this study, a series of waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) with different ionic group contents were synthesized by varying the amount of the internal emulsifier 2,2-dimethylolpropionic acid (DMPA). The effects of the ionic group content on the stability and adhesion behavior of WPUs were investigated in terms of particle size, viscosity, surface tension, interfacial tension, contact angle, and adhesion performance. It was found that stable WPUs could be obtained when the DMPA content was larger than 3.5 wt% (with respect to the total solid content). Adhesion performance of WPUs to substrates was mainly affected by the wetting of WPUs on the substrates and the molecular interactions between them. With the increase of DMPA content, the surface tension of WPUs as well as the interfacial tension and contact angle between WPUs and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films increased. Moreover, the adhesion strength of the WPUs firstly increased and then gradually decreased. The type of debonding failure of all the synthesized WPUs on PET films was cohesion failure due to their lower cohesion strength, which was theoretically testified by the comparison between the adhesion energy and cohesion energy.