Temperature Aging, Compression Recovery, Creep, and Weathering of a Foam Silicone Sealant for Bridge Expansion Joints
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 3
Abstract
Silicone foam was investigated as a sealant for small movement expansion joints in bridge decks. This paper presents results from the laboratory assessment of a model foam sealant subjected to thermal aging (exposure to high and low temperatures and temperature cycling), fatigue conditions, and outdoor weathering. Parallel tests were performed on a commercial solid-silicone bridge-joint sealant. Test results showed that the solid sealant recovered faster than the foam sealant after being subjected to prolonged compression at elevated temperature. When subjected to a constant tensile force, both the foam and solid sealants exhibited high initial creep rates (rate of elongation), but appeared to reach an equilibrium level of elongation at longer times. The foam sealant creeps at a slower rate and takes more time to get to the equilibrium elongation, whereas the solid sealant creeps much faster initially and reaches equilibrium faster. Thermal aging was found to have significant effects on the sealant modulus (increases with temperature); however, the effects on ultimate stress and strain were not apparent for both types of sealants. Temperature cycling between 24 and was observed to diminish the ultimate stress and strain of both the sealants by roughly 25%; however, no significant changes in modulus were found. Results from the tests on a limited number of outdoor-weathered sealant specimens showed that weathering appeared to produce an increase in sealant tensile and shear moduli (i.e., hardening effects because of weathering) and a decrease in ultimate strain. The weathered samples show tension loading-unloading behavior similar to the unaged samples. The tensile stress relaxation rate of the outdoor-weathered sealants could not be distinguished from those laboratory-cured (unweathered) counterparts.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research work reported in this paper was performed under Project UNSPECIFIEDNETC 02-6, sponsored by the New England Transportation Consortium (NETC). Special appreciation goes to the Technical Committee members of this NETC project for their valuable comments and for providing information on various joint sealing systems that are currently used by their respective Departments of Transportation in New England. The support received from the Watson Bowman Acme Corporation, Amherst, New York, who provided the solid sealant material for this study is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to all of those highway and transportation agencies who responded to the inquiries relevant to this study. This paper prepared in cooperation with the New England Transportation Consortium does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the writers who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented in this paper. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the New England Transportation Consortium or the Federal Highway Administration.
References
Al-Qadi, I. L., and Abo-Quadis, S. A. (1995). “Joint width and freeze/thaw effects on joint sealant performance.” J. Transp. Eng., 121(3), 262–266.
Biel, T. D., and Lee, H. (1997). “Performance study of portland cement concrete pavement joint sealants.” J. Transp. Eng., 123(5), 398–404.
Brown, R. P. (1986). Physical testing of rubber, Elsevier Applied Science, New York.
Bueche, F. (1960). “Molecular basis for the mullins effect.” J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 4(10), 107–114.
Chang, L. M., and Lee, Y. J. (2002). “Evaluation of performance of bridge deck expansion joints.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 16(1), 3–9.
Fincher, H. E. (1983). “Evaluation of rubber expansion joints for bridges.” HPR-1 (18) Part II, Indiana Department of Highways, Indianapolis.
Frederick, G. A. (1984). “Development of water tight bridge deck joint seals.” Rep. No. 84-7, New York State Dept. of Transportation, Albany, NY.
GE Bayer Silicones. (2003). “Products.” 〈http://www.gesilicones.com/gesilicones/en1/en/home.jsp〉 (Oct. 2003).
Gelest. (2003). “Adhesives and sealants.” 〈http://www.gelest.com〉 (Oct. 2003).
Hamilton, C. D. (1985). “Bridge deck expansion joints final report.” Rep. No. FHWA-ME-TP-84-04, Maine Department of Transportation, Augusta, ME.
Hardman, B. B., and Torkelson, A. (1982). “Silicon compounds (silicones).” Encyclopedia of chemical technology, 3rd Ed., R. E. Kirk, D. F. Othmer, M. Grayson, and D. Eckroth, eds., Vol. 20, Wiley, New York, 922–962.
ISO. (1991). “Rubber, vulcanized or thermoplastic—determination of compression set at ambient, elevated or low temperatures.” ISO 815, Geneva.
Kethcam, S. A. (1995). “Sealants and cold regions pavement seals. A review.” Rep. No. CRREL95-11, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CRREL, Hanover, NH.
Lee, D. J. (1994). Bridge bearings and expansion joints, Alden Press, Osney Mead, Oxford, UK.
Malla, R., Shaw, M., Shrestha, M., and Boob, S. (2006). “Sealing small movement bridge expansion joints.” NETCR-58, Final NETC 02-6 Project Rep., New England Transportation Consortium, Fall River, MA.
Malla, R. B., Shaw, M. T., Shrestha, M. R., and Boob, S. (2007). “Development and laboratory analysis of silicone foam sealant for bridge expansion joints.” J. Bridge Eng., 12(4), 438–448.
Malla, R., Shrestha, M., Shaw, M., and Boob, S. (2005). “Experimental evaluation of silicone foam sealant for bridge expansion joints.” Proc., SEM Annual Conf. and Exposition (CD-ROM), Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM), Bethel, CT.
Medalia, A. I., and Kraus, G. (1994). Science and technology of rubber, 2nd Ed., J. E. Mark, B. Erman, and F. R. Eirich, eds., Academic Press, San Diego.
Mullins, L. (1969). “Softening of rubber by deformation.” Rubber Chem. Technol., 42(1), 339–362.
National Weather Service. (2005). “National weather service forecast office: Boston, MA.”〈http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/dailystns.shtml〉 (July 2005).
Shaw, M. T., Blachere, A., and Tobolsky, A. V. (1970). “Thermal stability of networks containing siloxane linkages.” Polym. Eng. Sci., 10(4), 225–227.
Shaw, M. T., and MacKnight, W. J. (2005). Introduction to Polymer Viscoelasticity, 3rd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Shrestha, M. R., Malla, R. B., Boob, S., and Shaw, M. T. (2006), “Laboratory evaluation of weathering and freeze-thaw effects on silicone foam bridge joint sealant.” Proc., SEM Annual Conf. and Exposition (CD-ROM), Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM), Bethel, CT.
Smith, L. P. (1993). The language of rubber: An introduction to the specification and testing of elastomers, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Stoegbauer, H., and Wolf, A. T. (1990). “The Influence of heat aging on one-part construction silicone sealants.”Building Sealants: Materials, Properties and Performance ASTM STP 1069, T. F. O’Connor, ed., American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia.
Thirion, P., and Chasset, R. (1967). “Viscoelastic relaxation of rubber vulcanizates in extension.” Chim. Ind., Genie Chim., 97(5), 617–626.
Treloar, L. R. G. (1970). Introduction to polymer science, Wykeham Publications, London.
Watson Bowman Acme Corp. (2003). “Wabo bridge and highway maintenance products.” 〈http://www.wbacorp.com/home_pages/bridge_maintenance.htm〉 (Nov. 5, 2003), Amherst, NY.
Willis, R. F. (1969). “Thermal decomposition of silicone fluid at metal surfaces.” Nature (London), 221, 1134–1135.
Voigt, G. F., and Yrjanson, W. A. (1992). “Concrete Joint sealant performance evaluation.” Final Rep., Utah Department of Transportation, Salt Lake City.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 23 • Issue 3 • March 2011
Pages: 287 - 297
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 14, 2009
Accepted: Aug 4, 2010
Published online: Sep 16, 2010
Published in print: Mar 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.