How to choose the right door and window sealant?

As a key material used in sealing and waterproofing the joints of building doors and windows, silicone door and window sealant, although it is only an auxiliary material and accounts for a small proportion of the cost, plays a decisive role in the waterproof performance of building doors and windows. If the sealant has quality problems, it will cause water leakage, air leakage and other problems, which will seriously affect the airtightness and watertightness of doors and windows. During the rainy season, it may become a "disaster moment" when doors, windows and walls seep and leak. In order to ensure that consumers can choose high-quality sealant products, today we will focus on various key points in the selection process of door and window sealants. Years of experience and professional knowledge are here to protect you!

Choose the right door and window sealant!

1. Correctly choose products that meet standards

On March 31, 2020, the latest version of the national standard "Aluminum Alloy Doors and Windows" GB/T 8478-2020 was officially launched, replacing the original GB/T8478-2008 standard, and will be officially implemented on February 1, 2021. Compared with the old version of the standard, the 2020 version of the national standard for aluminum alloy doors and windows has not only been greatly improved in terms of the scope of application of the standard, door and window classification terms, and basic performance requirements of doors and windows, but also the sealing and bonding materials for aluminum alloy doors and windows. New requirements were made. It is specifically proposed that silicone door and window sealants should be products that meet the Gw category in GB/T 14683-2017, and the addition of alkane plasticizers is not allowed.

In GB/T 8478-2020, silicone building sealants are divided into 3 categories according to their uses, category F, category Gn, and category Gw. Among them, the Gn type has no special requirements for alkane plasticizers, but products with added alkane plasticizers are usually more likely to age than products of the same grade, leading to cracking and debonding. Compared with Gn type, Gw type sealant is usually superior in overall performance, and can better meet its performance requirements in the face of new iterations of new materials and new technologies for aluminum doors and windows.

2. Choose high-quality door and window sealant products without adding inferior raw materials.

High-quality door and window sealants have excellent durability, which is inseparable from the silicone base polymer synthesized through normal processes to ensure optimal performance. However, due to the high price of silicone base polymers and the highest content in high-quality silicone sealant formulas, the cost often accounts for more than 75% of the entire sealing collagen material cost. Therefore, in order to control costs, some manufacturers who only pursue short-term profits and ignore long-term safety ignore the bottom line in formula design and production and use inferior raw materials such as cracking materials, high-boiling materials, and mineral oil to "pass off inferior materials as good ones." The chemical composition and molecular structure of these inferior raw materials are greatly different from the original materials, which will inevitably have a huge impact on the durability of the silicone sealant, leading to quality problems in the silicone sealant.

Choosing high-quality door and window sealant can minimize the cost increase caused by sealant aging and failure!

3. Choose door and window sealant products with a 25-year warranty

At present, the design service life of doors and windows has reached 20 or even 25 years. Therefore, manufacturers should provide proof of 25-year warranty for door and window sealants and issue a 25-year warranty, or provide evidence that the aging time in the natural environment has reached 25 years. Project cases of the year.

The service life of doors and windows refers to "Technical Standard for Residential Performance Assessment (GB/T 50362-2005)"

The formulation of the current national standard GB/T 14683-2017 is based on the fact that the silicone sealant itself uses silicone polymers and has excellent aging resistance. The aging resistance technical indicators in the standard have a short detection time period (such as after ultraviolet irradiation) Fixed elongation adhesion, test time is only 300h), which cannot be related to the performance of silicone door and window sealants after aging for more than ten years or even decades in actual applications.

If the raw materials for the production of silicone door and window sealants do not meet the durability requirements (using inferior raw materials such as cracked materials, high-boiling materials, mineral oil, etc.), although they can pass the national standard in the early stage, in the actual application process, as the aging time increases, the performance will decline. Obviously, as the hardness increases, the displacement capacity will also decrease. In just 5 or 10 years, the door and window sealant may crack and debond due to aging, causing doors and windows to leak. Therefore, if you want to match the door and window sealant with the service life of the doors and windows, you must choose products with a 25-year warranty to protect the health of the doors and windows!

How to choose the door and window sealant brand?

After decades of rapid development of sealants, there are currently many manufacturers in the market, competition is fierce, and products vary in quality. It is recommended that users consider the product brand when choosing a sealant. How to choose a product brand? It is recommended that users consider the following aspects:

1. Product quality stability

As we all know, passing a certain batch of products does not mean that every batch of products is qualified. The stability of product quality is sometimes more important than its outstanding performance. Some manufacturers' product test reports claim to meet a certain standard and a certain level. In actual production, due to quality fluctuations in the production process and quality control levels, the product performance declines and does not reach the level claimed. The importance of quality stability is self-evident, and ensuring quality stability relies on technical strength, advanced automation equipment and management systems, as well as years of accumulation.

For customers, it is recommended to choose companies that have passed ISO 9001/ISO 14001/ISO 45001 quality, environment, occupational health and safety integrated management system certification, and companies with fully automated continuous production lines. After all, it is difficult for a manufacturer that lacks production experience, a technical team, advanced production equipment, and a complete quality management system to produce products with high stability.

2. After-sales service capabilities and levels

Due to reasons such as the materials used, equipment, environmental impact, and operator proficiency, sometimes sealant products will encounter some problems during use. If the sealant manufacturer's service is timely and effective, it can usually help customers solve the problem quickly. If the manufacturer's service capabilities cannot keep up and the service is not timely, it will have a great impact on the construction schedule and construction quality.

3. Product value

Sealant accounts for a very low cost in the entire doors and windows, but it has a great impact on the quality and service life of the doors and windows. Although inferior products are cheap, their bonding, sealing performance and durability will decline significantly in a short period of time, causing many quality problems. The heavy losses they cause to the brand reputation of door and window users often far exceed the cost of sealants. The product price itself. For users, when choosing high-quality sealant products, they should not just look at the absolute price of the product, but should consider the value of the product from the perspective of the product's full life cycle.