Non-corrosive, low volatiles-containing pressure sensitive adhesive

A normally tacky non-polar monomer-containing phase separated graft copolymer having pressure sensitive adhesive properties comprised of a backbone polymer having a polymeric moiety grafted thereto, comprising the reaction product of

• (1) at least one A monomer consisting of a monomeric acrylic or methacrylic acid ester of a non-tertiary alcohol, said alcohol having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms,
• (2) at least one B monomer consisting of a monomeric acrylic or methacrylic acid ester of a non-tertiary alcohol, said alcohol having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms,
• (3) said graft is a polymeric moiety having a Tg greater than 20.degree. C. and a molecular weight ranging from about 2,000 to about 13,000, said polymeric moiety selected from the group consisting of poly(alpha-methylstyrene), poly(meth)acrylonitrile, polyvinyltoluene, polystyrene, polyindene, poly(t-butylstyrene), polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(vinyl acetate), poly(lower alkyl)methacrylate, poly(2-oxazoline), poly(meth)acrylamide and poly(N,N-di(lower alkyl)acrylamide);
• and
• wherein the weight ratio of said at least one A monomer to said at least one B monomer ranges from about 1:2 to 2:1, the average number of carbon atoms present in the alcohol portion of the total acrylic or (meth)acrylic acid esters of monomers A and B present ranges from about 2.5 to 3.5, and said graft polymeric moiety is present in an amount up to about 6.5 wt. % based on the total weight of the copolymer.