The use of hot pour crack sealant for the maintenance of asphalt concrete pavements in Canada is a common practice. Crack sealants decrease the amount of road maintenance required and extend the life of pavement before major reconstruction is necessary. However many crack sealants, even those described as high performance crack sealants, last only for a short period of time and cracks in pavements need frequent resealing.
One of the reasons that poorly performing crack sealants are in use is the lack of laboratory tests which predict the field performance of these materials. The aim of this project was to develop and/or identify an effective laboratory test method and equipment design for prediction of field performance of crack sealants.
The specific project objectives were:
- to identify factors critical for the field performance of crack sealants;
- to select and develop a test method that reflects these critical factors;
- to design testing instruments capable of performing the selected performance test;
- to verify the laboratory test methods by comparing test results to known field performance of crack sealants.
