Bituminous sealants used in the maintenance of roadways are installed hot and heated to 150-200℃ during installation. High temperatures can degrade polymers in sealants, but there is no standard method to account for this possible degradation. In an attempt to find such a method, the aging of two sealants in large kettles during field applications was compared to that obtained in the laboratory by heating in a small kettle. The results indicate that 4 h of small kettle aging at the highest suggested sealant application temperature (HiSAT), or about 2h at HiSAT + 10℃, provided as much copolymer aging as that found in sealants sampled midway through installation.
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