Developing a test method to investigate water susceptibility of joint and crack sealants.
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2016-10-31
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Abstract:Sealants are commonly used to insulate cracks and joints preventing water from entering the underlying structure. However, extended exposure of sealants to water has shown to negatively impact sealants properties causing gradual degradation of sealant performance. While there have been many studies on characterizing sealant performance in dry conditions, there has been no comprehensive experimental tests to evaluate crack sealants water susceptibility based on a fundamental material property. This study introduces five laboratory tests to investigate the effect of water exposure on different crack sealants commonly used in cold, moderate and hot climates. Sealants were acquired in collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Experimental plan includes several thermo-mechanical and surface characterization tests. Crack sealants’ rheological properties and relaxation time was measured using a Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR). Sealants’ creep compliance was measured using an extended Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR). In addition, a direct adhesion test was incorporated using a Direct Adhesion Test (DAT) machine to determine the load required to bring sealant specimen to adhesion failure. Surface tension was measured using a Goniometer. A higher reduction in surface tension indicates sealant has more susceptibility to water. Chemical structure and formation of any new functional groups was tracked using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The extent of change in aforementioned sealant properties before and after water conditioning was used as indicators of sealant susceptibility to water. The experiments results were compared against sealants’ field performance data obtained through the Pooled-Fund Crack Sealant Consortium led by the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
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