Bonding of thermoplastic sheet material to roughened substrates

Claim 1

A process for adhesively bonding a protective and decorative, stretchable, thermoplastic polymeric film to a substrate, wherein said process reduces or eliminates the tendency of the bonded polymeric film to develop an undesirable surface texture, said process comprising the steps of: (a) applying a layer of a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition to a surface of said film; (b) treating a surface of the substrate which is to be bonded to said film to roughen the surface and to raise its surface energy to a level corresponding to a critical surface tension of wetting of at least about 40 dynes per cm and to provide a substantially uniform surface roughness; and (c) pressing the adhesive layer of said film into bonding contact with the treated surface of the substrate, wherein the roughness of the roughened surface ranges from about 1 to about 100 microinches, and the surface being sufficiently smooth such that said film when bonded thereto has a 20° glass of at least about 80 and a DOI of at least about 80 as measured by ASTM TEST E-430.