Effect of Water Exposure on Crack Sealant Adhesion

Crack sealing and filling is the most widely used maintenance activity for in-service pavements. If an appropriate sealant material is selected and properly installed at the appropriate time of the pavement life, it retards pavement deterioration and increases its service life at a relatively low cost. However, in some cases it is reported that sealants failed prematurely, mainly due to environmental factors and water exposure. While there have been several studies on environmental factors, water related factors has not received appropriate attention. Nevertheless, various sealants have different water resistance property; hence, they perform differently when exposed to large amount of rain and humidity. Currently, there is no standard test method to evaluate sealant water resistance. Therefore, there is a need for a standard test method to precisely predict sealant performance when exposed to water. Such a test method can help examine various sealants in terms of their water resistance. This paper introduces a water conditioning procedure and a test method to measure bond strength of sealant under dry and wet condition.