ABSTRACT
Resealing of joints in a typical building structure needs to take place a number of times within the life-time of the building. The resealing process is more difficult than sealing joints for the first time and among the most significant difficulties are the removal of old sealant, and the likely presence of residues left in the joint. This paper reviews the fundamental concepts of adhesion and outlines the use of surface analysis techniques, in particular surface energy measurements, to predict the adhesion and durability performance of resealed joints. Experimental tensile adhesion joints were prepared with a range of contaminated substrate surfaces to simulate typical surfaces found in commercial resealing. Joints were tested before and after QUV accelerated weathering and trends in performance compared favourably with those predicted from surface energy measurements.
