TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fini, Ellie 
AU  - Abu-Lebdeh, Taher 
PY  - 2011
TI  - Bonding Property of Bituminous Crack Sealants in the Presence of Water
JF  - American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
VL  - 4
IS  - 1
DO  - 10.3844/ajeassp.2011.124.129
UR  - https://thescipub.com/abstract/ajeassp.2011.124.129
AB  - Problem statement: 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. Approach: 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 study introduces water conditioning procedure and a test method to measure bond strength of sealant
under dry and wet condition. The effect of water on the Interfacial Fracture Energy (IFE) of bituminous
sealants was measured by means of a blister test. This test allows the calculations of two fundamental
parameters: tensile modulus and the Interfacial Fracture Energy (IFE). Results: Experimental results
showed water exposure caused a significant drop in adhesion strength. However, no significant difference
was observed between adhesion strength of specimens conditioned for 8 and 12 h of conditioning.
Conclusion/Recommendations: The proposed approach and testing method can be used by the sealant
manufacturers to improve their sealants’ adhesion properties at the presence of water. However, further research works are needed to examine how sealant adhesion strength varies with water exposure duration. Also, the effect of water pH on sealant adhesion strength can be studied.