Since their first commercialization in the 1960s, styrenic block copolymers (SBC) have been the focus of continuous new developments for applications including adhesives, compounded rubber, footwear, thermoplastic-polymer modification, asphalt modification, motor oil additives, films and coatings.
And it's no wonder. SBCs are synthesized via anionic polymerization, which allows a high degree of precision in engineering molecular architectures. So far, more than 600 patents in the United States and more than 3,200 patents in countries outside the United States have been issued for KRATON polymers, their manufacturing processes and their product applications. More than 80 of those are in the area of pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) applications.