Sealant Adhesion Testing
(ASTM C1521)
BUILDING ENCLOSURE
ASTM Test Standards
ASTM E779
ASTM E3158
ASTM E1186
ASTM E1827
ASTM C1521
ASTM D4541
ASTM E336
ASTM C1060
NIBS Guideline 3
ABAA-Compliant Audits
Other Services
Sealant Adhesion Testing
ASTM C1521
Testing the sealant is vital for ensuring the longevity, performance, and integrity of a building's envelope. Sealants are critical in preventing water infiltration, air leakage, and maintaining the structural integrity by accommodating movements due to thermal expansion, wind, or settling. Without proper testing, defects like poor adhesion, degradation, or premature failure might go unnoticed, leading to costly repairs, compromised energy efficiency, and potential structural issues. Regular testing in accordance with standards like ASTM C1521 can identify these issues early, allowing for timely maintenance or replacement, thereby extending the life of the sealant and protecting the building from weather-related damage. Moreover, it ensures that the sealant continues to perform its intended function under the actual environmental conditions it is subjected to, which can significantly vary from controlled lab settings.
This practice describes field tests to determine the adhesive and cohesive characteristics of an installed sealant joint, by manually placing a strain on the sealant. The sealant to be tested shall be fully cured. The results of this method can be used in conjunction with other information to determine the overall performance of the sealant joint. The user of this practice should define the other parameters to be evaluated such as cleaning of the substrate, depth control of the sealant, sealant profile, etc. This method describes both nondestructive and destructive procedures. The destructive procedure stresses the sealant in such a way as to cause either cohesive or adhesive failure of the sealant or cohesive failure of the substrate where deficient substrate conditions exist. The objective is to characterize the adhesive/cohesive performance of the sealant on the specific substrate by applying whatever strain is necessary to effect failure of the sealant bead. It is possible that the strain applied to the sealant bead may result in the failure of a deficient substrate before effecting a failure in the sealant.
hy (IR) is the use of specialized equipment to measure the thermal energy emitted from an object. Thermal energy is light that is not visible because its wavelength is too long to be detected by the human eye. Unlike visible light, in the infrared world, everything with a temperature above absolute zero