SEDL / STP / STP1200-EB / STP14875S

New Tests for Adhesion of Silicone Sealants

Gutowski, VS
Principal Research ScientistExperimental Scientists at the CSIRO Division of Building, Construction and Engineering, MelbourneHighett, Victoria

Russell, L
Principal Research ScientistExperimental Scientists at the CSIRO Division of Building, Construction and Engineering, MelbourneHighett, Victoria

Cerra, A
Principal Research ScientistExperimental Scientists at the CSIRO Division of Building, Construction and Engineering, MelbourneHighett, Victoria

Pages: 18    Published: Jan 1992

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Abstract

It has been widely accepted that the ASTM C-794 peel test is suitable for determining adhesion between the sealants and substrates used in curtain wall construction. However, it is shown in this paper that this test has certain deficiencies which may allow the acceptance of some materials which in fact have poor initial adhesion and long-term durability.

The influence of the specimen's geometry, sealant type, sealant thickness, cross-head speed (test rate), etc, on the resultant failure mode and quantitative results are discussed in detail.

Finally, two novel adhesion tests are proposed and discussed, i.e.: (a) ‘thin’ peel specimen test (b) ‘thin’ lap-shear specimen test.

Comparative results, obtained using a range of common commercially available sealants, show that the proposed tests have significant advantages over the accepted ASTM C-794 test as well as the DIN 52455 and ISO/DIS 9047 tests.