Determination of Tensile Properties of Selected Building Sealants in Combination with High-pressure Compact Laminate (HPL)

One of the current issues in the Czech building industry is an efficient implementation of seal joint between constructions. An undesirable penetration of water, moisture or air between structural elements may have a negative effect on their reliability and may also affect the length of expected service life. This issue is addressed in detail in the following paper. The experimental part of the research is aimed at ascertaining the technical properties of sealants and on verification of their potential usage in practise. Furthermore, this article focuses on the preparation and subsequent production of test specimens, and also on the experimental verification of their tensile properties at a temperature of (20 ± 3) °C and (-22 ± 2) °C. For the tests, composite high pressure laminates (i.e. HPL Trespa Meteon) are chosen for the cladding. In order to find the best solution ten types of commonly manufactured industrial sealants is selected. At the same time the emphasis was on representation of sealants in various price categories. The main conclusion of tests is the fact that it is not possible to responsibly choose a suitable material without taking appropriate measurements or having previous experience. A secondary conclusion to this article is the fact that there are significant differences between individual sealants in the results they provide in combination with selected cladding material. Moreover, the method also suggests that the use of the most expensive sealant does not always provide the best results.