Materials testing for the water-proofing industry.

www.tiniusolsen.com

Customers – and sometimes even competitors – are constantly surprised at the diversity of testing programmes that can be performed with standard Tinius Olsen equipment. One of the more interesting programmes involves the waterproofing membranes applied on the roof of buildings around the world and the UAE.

With the advent of the boom in the civil industry in the UAE and number of buildings zooming up in the UAE skyline, you can imagine the amount of waterproofing that would be needed as a whole.

But making and applying these membranes on the top of these buildings is no child’s play.

These membranes have to withstand the forces of nature i.e. the extreme temperatures, humidity and of course rain. Their very function prevents the rain-water from getting into the structure of the building and ultimately into our homes.

Just how can Tinius Olsen equipment be used to test the membranes for these parameters?, read on to find out. Some of the tests performed by standard Tinius Olsen test equipment are as follows:

1. Tensile Strength, Elongation and Modulus of Elasticity to BS 6319 Part 7, ASTM D 412, ASTM D 638, BS 2782 – Method 320E & F, and UEATC test method.
2. Initial tear resistance of plastics sheets to ASTM D1004 test method.
3. Crack bridging strength of membranes to ASTM C836.
4. Puncture resistance of membranes to ASTM E154.

The high temperatures on rooftops in the UAE cause expansion in the concrete slabs on which the waterproofing membranes are applied. Therefore tensile strength and elongation are measured in both rubber and bitumen waterproofing membranes to know how much tensile forces the material can withstand and how much they are able to elongate without breaking or the appearance of defects.

Resistance to tearing is also an important parameter that needs to be measured for the plastic sheets applied on top of bitumen membranes. Bitumen is sticky in nature and therefore bitumen waterproofing membranes are covered with plastic sheets on the exposed side, hence tear resistance of this covering is a crucial parameter.

Cracks are a common defect that appear in buildings due to the stresses on load bearing faces and also as they age. These cracks aid the water leakage problems and affect the integrity of the structure as well. Waterproofing membranes are therefore required to have crack bridging capabilities which prevent water from going into the cracks. These membranes also have to be strong enough to withstand the expansion and contraction cycles that are typical to cracked structures.

Resistance to puncture is also an important parameter, as this is one of the major stresses that construction materials like waterproofing membranes are subjected to. All these factors highlight the importance to testing when manufacturing these kind of membranes. The experts at Tinius Olsen have known this for years and this reflects on the abilities of their testing machines in the ease-of-use and high testing rate of samples.

Ask the quality control department of Al Gurg Fosroc LLC, who are one of the leading manufacturers of waterproofing membranes in the UAE about the 25KN Tinius Olsen testing machine they use, to test their products. They will tell you how the QMAT PRO software allows them to accurately and quickly conduct their specialised tests thereby assuring the quality of their products.

For information please contact -

Amit Mitbawkar
Team Leader - Industrial Materials Testing
SIGMA ENTERPRISES LLC
Engineering Products Division
PO Box - 96241,
Dubai, UAE
Tel - +971 4 8851828
Fax - +971 4 8851628
Mobile - +971 50 4450907
Email – amit_mitbawkar@sep.ae
Website - www.sigma-epd.com