With the accelerated upgrading of the construction industry, prefabricated buildings have shown a rapid development trend in recent years. As the first line of defense for external wall panel joint waterproofing, the performance of prefabricated building sealants is directly related to the waterproof effect of the project and it has attracted more and more attention.
There are many types of construction sealants on the market, according to the different basic polymers, they can be roughly divided into: silicone sealant (SR), polyurethane sealant (PU), and silane-modified polyether rubber (MS polyurethane sealers).
Here is another article about MS sealant, browse it if you want to learn more about MS silicone sealant
Here we are talking about silicone sealant VS PU sealant. Let's go though it.
What is polyurethane sealant?
Polyurethane sealant (Pu sealant) is mainly composed of polyurethane rubber and polyurethane prepolymer.
Polyurethane sealants are generally divided into two basic types, one-component and two-component
One-component Pu sealer is moisture curing type, the one-component Pu sealer is convenient for construction, but curing is slower.
Two-component Pu sealant is reaction curing type.; the two-component Pu sealant has the characteristics of fast curing and good performance, but it needs to be formulated during use, and the process is more complicated.
Advantage of Pu sealant
- Excellent Abrasion resistance
- High stability, wide adjustable range of performance
- Good adhesion, good strength, and tear resistance
- Good elasticity, excellent recovery, suitable for dynamic joints
- Strong anti-aging properties, service life up to 15 ~20 years
- Excellent oil resistance
- Resistance to biological aging;
- Polyurethane sealant price is moderate
- Cold resistance, good flexibility under low temperature conditions, Pu sealant will not freeze and crack in a cold environment
- Paintable
- Wide bonding range
Disadvantage of Pu sealant
1. Poor weather resistance (compared with silicone sealant) Polyurethane caulk is not heat resistant and cannot be kept in a high temperature environment for a long time, if urethane caulk is exposed to ultraviolet rays for a long time, it will accelerate the aging of the polyurethane sealant even cracks, bubbles and other conditions occurrence
2. When using polyurethane sealant in some occasions, primer is required and cannot be applied directly.
3. Polyurethane sealant is also relatively poor in water resistance, especially alkali resistance. If it is in an alkaline water environment, it will greatly affect the use effect.
4. Bubbles may appear that caused cracks in the adhesive layer during the curing process
Antas 293 Modified Polyurethane Sealant is neutral curing polyurethane sealant. It is safe and environment friendly with good weatherproofing ability. It shows good adhesion to concrete, aluminum, glass, and stone materials.
What is silicone sealant?
Silicone sealant (SR) is based on polydimethoxysiloxane as the main raw material, it is formed by curing elastic silicone rubber at room temperature
Silicone sealant can be divided into by its purposes: weathering sealant, structural adhesive, ordinary silicone sealant (MS sealant), special sealant (firestop sealant) , hole filling sealant (PU foam).
We have written an article about Structural sealant vs weather sealant
Advantage of silicone sealant
- Strong adhesion and high tensile strength
- Weather resistance, vibration resistance, moisture resistance, UV resistance and adaptability to large changes in cold and heat
- Broad applicability
- It can realize the bonding between most building materials
- Anti-aging
- No bubbles during cure
Disadvantage of silicone sealant
- Unpaintable
- Price is relatively high
What is the difference between polyurethane adhesive and silicone sealant in application？
| Type |
Adhesive |
Elasticity |
Weather resistance |
Paintable |
Main Usages |
| SR |
Good |
Good |
Excellent |
Poor |
Bonding and sealing for windows, doors PVC and curtain wall |
| PU |
Good |
Good |
General |
Good |
Bonding and sealing for concrete and metal |
Pu sealant:
- The connection of prefabricated concrete and other building materials and the filling and sealing of construction joints.
- The sealing and caulking between the wooden frames of doors and windows and the concrete of the walls
- The adhesive caulking of lightweight structures (such as curtain walls) on buildings
- Waterproof caulking of facilities like balconies, swimming pools, and bathrooms
- Sealing of air-conditioning and other system connections
- Sealing of heat-insulating double-glazing and heat-insulating window frames, etc.
- Sealing of automobile windows, bonding of auto parts, etc.
The main use of polyurethane sealant is in civil engineering and transportation, so it has some famous names: polyurethane joint sealant, pu exterior sealer, polyurethane concrete sealer, polyurethane adhesive, polyurethane caulk, polyurethane caulk for concrete, exterior polyurethane caulk, polyurethane adhesive sealant etc.
Silicone sealant：
Silicone sealant contains both organic groups and inorganic Si-O structurehas which makes it has the stable chemical properties of both inorganic and organic materials, especially in the performance of excellent UV resistance, heat resistance and aging resistance. Silicone sealant has good compatibility with silicone structural sealant, and is widely used in weather-resistant sealing of building curtain walls.
With the rapid development of the building curtain wall industry, the special sealant for large plate glass and the special sealant for point curtain wall have also come to the fore.
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Jointas has broad range of sealants for construction, home improvement, electric, solar industruy, if you are not sure which sealant can be choose, welcome to conact us, our experts will offer free consult for you.
