Polymerization Reaction Monitoring for PSA Production Using an ATR-FTIR Probe
The Carl Dahlquist Best Paper Award was presented to Renata Jovanovic
at the PSTC TECH XXVI Seminar in May 2003 in Washington, DC.
The utilization of Attenuated Total Reflectance – Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy for the characterization of pressure-sensitive products is well established. Some recent advances in sensor technology have opened new application areas of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. One of them is the monitoring of chemical reactions, which are of interest for pressure-sensitive adhesive production. In this study, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy was used for monitoring polymerizations of acrylic monomers. Current results offer a basis for the development of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as not only a monitoring tool, but also as a tool for process control.