Concrete, like glass, is rigid in structure. It cannot bend or stretch without cracking. Its highly compressive strength and hardness make it applicable for flooring applications in many industries.

However, the structural elements of concrete shift slightly during expansion and shrinkage due to temperature changes. These movements create expansion joints that have to be filled with a flexible sealant.

Expansion joints are used to compensate when concrete expands or shrinks temperature changes. Also, they are used to separate slabs and concrete from other parts of the conjoined structure.

Why Your Concrete Floor Needs an Expansion Joint:

Several expansion joints are combined in concrete construction, including foundations, walls, roof expansion joints, and paving slabs. These joints are carefully designed, located, and installed to mitigate flexural stresses.

These stresses are a result of the vertical movements of applications adjoining rigid foundation components, like columns or foundations. If a slab is positioned contiguously on surfaces exceeding one face, an expansion joint will be necessary to reduce the stress.

An expansion joint is designed to safely absorb the expansion and

contraction of several construction materials, absorb vibrations, and permit soil movements due to earthquakes or ground settlement.

They are usually located between sections of bridges, paving slabs, railway tracks, and piping systems. Weather changes during the year produce   temperature   variations that cause expansion contraction in concrete paving slabs, building faces, and pipelines. The expansion joints are incorporated to endure the stresses.

An expansion joint is simply a disconnection between segments of the same materials. In concrete block construction, the expansion joints are expressed as control joints.

Choosing the right sealant depends on the properties required, including the expected movement of the joint, what the joint must retain or keep out, and how quickly the applied sealant needs to perform.

Fosroc Colpor 200 was specially developed as an innovative fast- curing airfield pavement sealant which has already saved many builders considerable time and money due to its rapid return to service and durability.

Fosroc Colpor 200 two part polyurethane sealant is designed for joints in concrete paved areas. The capability of accommodating cyclic movements is retained by Colpor 200 throughout extremes of temperature conditions.

Colpor 200 is resistant to fuel, oil and hydraulic fluid spillage and will not harden in cold weather nor become excessively soft or pick up in hot conditions.

It has high durability and long service life, which reduces maintenance costs.