Waterproofing Materials

materials used to protect structural components, buildings, and installations from the harmful effects of water and chemically corrosive fluids, such as acids and alkalies.

Waterproofing materials are subdivided by purpose into antiseepage, anticorrosion, and hermetic, and by basic material into asphalt, mineral, plastic, and metallic.

Asphalt waterproofing materials are used in the form of petroleum bitumens with mineral powder, sand, and crushed stone (asphalt mastics, mortars, and concretes), obtained by heating (hot-set and poured asphalts), thinning the bitumens with volatile solvents (bituminous lacquers and enamels), or emulsifying them in water (bituminous emulsions, pastes, and cold asphalts). Bitumens and asphalts are used for the painting and plastering of structural surfaces (asphalt waterproofing), for sealing deformation joints (asphalt splines), for impregnation of structural elements, and for the manufacture of separate waterproofing material components (principally rolled roofing materials, such as gidroizol, brizol, izol, fiberglass roofing material, and insulating mats). Bituminous polymer waterproofing materials, which possess a high degree of elasticity and resistance to cracking, are becoming more widespread. In the USSR waterproofing materials are being used that are based on bitumens emulsified in water (cold asphalt mastics, emulbit, bitumen-latex compositions, and elastitm), permitting the use of local materials as well as simplifying and curtailing the costs of waterproofing operations.

Mineral waterproofing materials are prepared with a base of cements, clay, and other mineral binding agents; they are used in antiseepage protection for painted (cement and silicate paints) and plastered coatings (cement gunite and plaster) and for large-scale waterproof structural components (water-repellent fills, aluminous cement joints, and gidraton). The improvement of mineral waterproofing materials is linked to the use of surface-active and other special additives that have high dispersion mixtures.

Plastic waterproofing materials are used for painted (epoxide, polyester, polyvinyl, and ethanol lacquers and paints), plastered (polymer mortars, concretes, and faizol), and glued (polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride tapes, and Oppanol) waterproofing of surfaces and for sealing of deformation joints (hermetic materials of natural rubber, molding strips of processed rubber and polyvinyl chloride, and fiberglass elements). The nomenclature and scope of production of these materials is constantly increasing. Thiokol hermetic materials, epoxide paints, polyester fiberglass materials, and polyethylene screens are undergoing the greatest development.

Metallic waterproofing materials include brass, copper, lead, steel, and stainless steel sheets. They are utilized for surface waterproofing and sealing of deformation joints in the more crucial cases (for example, in storage tanks, dams, and core walls). Aluminum and copper foil is used to reinforce coatings and waterproof rolled roofing materials (metalloizol, folgoizol, and sisalkraft). Metallic waterproofing materials are gradually being replaced by plastic and fiberglass.