The internal structure of adhesive tapes determines the effective mechanical
properties. This holds true especially for blended systems, here consisting of
acrylate and rubber phases. In this note, we propose a lattice-based model to
study numerically the formation of internal morphologies within a
four-component mixture (of discrete particles) where the solvent components
evaporate. Mimicking numerically the interaction between rubber, acrylate, and
two different types of solvents, relevant for the technology of adhesive tapes,
we aim to obtain realistic distributions of rubber ball-shaped morphologies --
they play a key role in the overall functionality of those special adhesives.
Our model incorporates the evaporation of both solvents and allows for tuning
the strength of two essentially different solvent-solute interactions and of
the temperature of the system.Comment: 8 page