Rheological measurements provide useful information for the processing, product development and application of pressure-sensitive adhesives.
The cohesive strength of a PSA can be measured in continuous shear; a creep experiment is the most appropriate test. In practice, the damping behavior tan δ obtained in an oscillation test is used. Tan δ is the balance between loss modulus, associated to the energy dissipation or viscous deformations in a material and the storage modulus, and correlates well with cohesive strength. A PSA has a good cohesive strength for low tan δ values.