Adhesives & Sealants for Building & Construction

There are many applications in the building and construction (B&C) industries for adhesives and sealants. These materials are highly valued because:

	they can be formulated to set outdoors in a relatively short period of time,
	they have good adhesion to a number of materials of construction,
	they provide relatively good weathering properties and durability.

The major applications for adhesives and sealants in this market are for on-site and manufactured residential housing, commercial buildings, and infrastructure developments such as roads, bridges, municipal facilities, etc.

The Part of Adhesives and Sealants in the B&C Industry

Adhesives and sealants fall within the building and construction industry as part of the much larger construction chemicals market. In addition to adhesives and sealants, construction chemicals also include coatings, grouts, mortars, cement, asphalt additives and polymer and wood flooring systems. Next to protective coatings, adhesives and sealants make up the largest part of the construction chemicals market as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Approximate Make-Up of the Construction Chemicals Market

Today's demands on buildings, roads, and infrastructure could not be met without advances in construction chemicals that include both adhesives and sealants. Adhesives and sealants are used in the building and construction industry for applications, both structural and decorative. The market includes both residential housing, commercial building, and infrastructure development. Table 2 identifies some of the sub-sectors to the building and construction market.

Value of Adhesives and Sealants to the Industry

Building and construction represents a very large market for adhesives and sealants. More than 50% of these products sold in construction are:

	thermoplastic,
	water-based systems because the major substrate used is wood or other porous substrates (e.g., concrete, masonry).

This B&C industry presents processing and field application challenges not usually encountered in factory or assembly line applications. Often the adhesive or sealant must have a convenient mix ratio and cure capabilities at ambient temperatures as low as 0°C. The cure rate should be fast to avoid environmental effects such as rain, dust, or other contaminants. The adhesive or sealant must be compatible with a wide variety of substrates.

The adhesive or sealant may require "indoor" properties such as low toxicity or "outdoor" properties such as moisture and UV resistance. Coloring and appearance is important in many applications. Flexibility and elongation is often necessary because of thermal expansion differences due to different substrates and seasonal and daily temperature variations.

There is a shift to high performing adhesives and sealants, which are most often 100% solids and reactive systems. The reason for this change comes mainly from new regulations regarding construction resistant to hurricanes, earthquakes, water, mold growth, and so forth.