Joint sealant is affected by various environmental factors in service, such as different temperatures, water soaking, ultraviolet and so on. In this paper, the VAE emulsion-cement compositejoint sealant was pretreated under multiple simulation environments. Thereafter, the degradation rules of fixed elongation and tensile properties of joint sealants at different mix proportions were systemically investigated under the action of external environments (temperature, water soaking and ultraviolet), and the influence mechanisms of diverse environmental factors were analyzed. The research results suggested that, under the action of external environments, the VAE emulsion-cement composite joint sealants exhibited degradation effects to varying degrees. After the addition of plasticizer, the joint sealants had reduced cohesion strength in low temperature environment and enhanced flexible deformability. The addition of water repellent improved the water resistance of joint sealants. Meanwhile, adding ultraviolet shield agent partially improved the ultraviolet radiation aging resistance. A greater powder-liquid ratio led to the lower flexibility of joint sealants, but superior water resistance and ultraviolet radiation aging resistance.
Keywords: VAE emulsion–cement composite material; durability; fixed elongation property; temperature; tensile property; ultraviolet radiation; water soaking.