The Relationship between Rheological Properties and Spraying Behaviour of Polymer Dispersion

In contrast to paints, the surface appearance of adhesive materials is of minor importance, because the adhesive is invisible between the two substrates. Therefore, the rheological properties needed to apply an adhesive dispersion by spray coating can be quite different. The influence of three different kinds of thickeners on the spraying behaviour of polyurethane adhesive dispersions was investigated. The associative thickener showed only minor changes, whereas the higher molecular weight soluble thickeners dramatically changed the spraying angle and the amount of overspray. Determination of the elongational viscosity by means of the CaBER rheometer proved to be of limited use for thickened dispersions.