Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are viscoelastic materials that can stick to solid surfaces in a short time with slight pressure. PSAs are widely used in an industrial scale as labels, adhesive tapes, and protective films. These adhesives are categorized into major groups of natural and synthetic rubber, silicone, polyurethane, and acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives. This type of adhesive generally has four properties: high and stable tack, adhesion with finger pressure, sufficient adhesion to hold the desired surfaces for a chosen duration, and sufficient cohesion for the adhesive to be removed from the surfaces at the desired time. Among these, acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives are more common due to their high intrinsic tack, relatively low cost, optical clarity, and favorable resistance to oxidation and ultraviolet light.

Water-based acrylic adhesives, also known as emulsion adhesives, use water to separate their adhesive molecules. When the water evaporates, it creates strong bonds with the underlying substrate and produces durable, long-lasting films, which increases their resistance to weathering and the passage of time.

Acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives bond well to many substrates. In general, a pressure-sensitive adhesive should have a balance of properties such as tackiness at the application temperature, peel adhesion and shear adhesion strength, elongation, elasticity, clarity and color stability, and resistance to sunlight and UV rays.

Good tack is directly related to a low molecular weight, while shear adhesion strength improves with an increase in molecular weight. To achieve the target structure, it is necessary to balance the resin structure, application, and product design.

These adhesives have a good overall balance of adhesive properties. The advantages of water-based acrylic adhesives include easy application and cleanup, good resistance to heat and aging, good adhesion to polar substrates, and environmental friendliness due to a lower volatile organic compound (VOC) content, as well as high flexibility, non-yellowing over time, and high adhesion.

Iran Industrial Resins Research Group, by controlling the formulation of water-based acrylic adhesives based on pure acrylics and styrene acrylics with varying degrees of tackiness, is able to meet the diverse needs of the country as follows: