Effects of prestrain, outdoor aging, and simultaneous strain cycling on the durability of building sealants

Gregory Schueneman; Steven Lacher; Christopher G. Hunt

Treesearch

Effects of prestrain, outdoor aging, and simultaneous strain cycling on the durability of building sealants

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Gregory Schueneman, Steven Lacher, Christopher G. Hunt

Year:

2018

Type:

Paper

Station:

Forest Products Laboratory

Source:

In: Proceedings, 41st annual meeting of the adhesion society. San Diego, CA: 4p.

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Download (PDF 831 KB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/56590.pdf

Abstract

Elastomeric sealants are vital to the construction of energy efficient and water tight buildings. Sealants are a small fraction of the construction budget. Upon failure their removal and reinstallation, and repair of moisture/mold damage can run in to the 10’s of millions with the added risk of illness based litigation. In this research program we are seeking to discern the significance of environmental and strain effects on sealant durability as well as the initial state of stress (aka installation/cure conditions). Sealant bonded specimens are fixtured on automated test instruments and static specimen holders outdoors with three prestrains to simulate winter, spring/fall, and summer installation. The automated test frame imposes hot compression/ cold tension strain cycling in accordance with the temperature of exterior building components simulated here by a section of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) pipe. Herein we report the results of 45 months of continuous outdoor exposure.

Keywords

Durability, building sealant, effective modulus, installation condition

Citation

Schueneman, Gregory T.; Lacher, Steven; Hunt, Christopher G. 2018. Effects of prestrain, outdoor aging, and simultaneous strain cycling on the durability of building sealants. In: Proceedings, 41st Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society. San Diego, CA: 4p.