Patent ID: 6527897
Filing Date: 2003-03-04
Classification: A61L,Y10T

Abstract:
A process for manufacturing segmented pressure-sensitive adhesive layers and for applying the same to a substrate comprising:keeping a reaction medium ready in a metering or filling station under the absence of oxygen, wherein the reaction medium contains radiation-inducible polymers and/or prepolymers of olefinically unsaturated compounds under addition of photoinitiators; providing templates to a conveyor belt or chain, wherein each template has a top surface, a bottom surface, and a segment-defining opening that extends from the top surface of the template to the bottom surface of the template; running a support or base belt within said conveyor belt or chain so that the support or base belt provides a lower covering to a bottom of the segment-defining opening of the templates; conveying the empty templates with a lower covering one after another on the conveyor belt or chain to said metering or filling station wherein the templates are filled with a dosable amount of the reaction medium; passing the filled templates in continuous conveyance below an upper UV section, whereby the reaction medium is solidified by means of radiation induced reaction involving at least partial polymerization, wherein the volume of the reaction medium shrinks; removing the lower covering so that the reaction medium is then exposed on an upper side as well as a bottom side; transporting the filled templates between the upper UV section and a lower UV section so that the uncovered reaction medium is fully cured from above and below by continued radiation-induced polymerization reaction to form the finished pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, wherein the volume of the reaction medium further shrinks; and conveying the templates, containing the finished pressure-sensitive adhesive layers, to a transfer station wherein the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is pushed out of the template and is combined with a substrate.