National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

About the research

With the growing interest in use of concrete sealers, there has been an increase in the number of the manufacturers, types of sealers, and commercial products available. This has resulted in a wide range of problems, for the design engineers, contractors, and owner agencies who lack the tools to evaluate such products.

Sealers can be categorized based on the chemical structure, type and amount of the diluent used, and the mechanism of action but products from a given category may vary widely in their performance. Indeed, the parameters that define satisfactory performance are not agreed upon.

There is a need to establish a suite of performance criteria that will define acceptability of a given product, and a protocol for agencies to be able to evaluate a product that is submitted for approval. The aim of this work is to meet those needs.