Designation: C 1083 – 00

Standard Test Method for

Water Absorption of Cellular Elastomeric Gaskets and
Sealing Materials1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation C 1083; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

1. Scope 5. Apparatus
1.1 This test method covers those cellular elastomeric com- 5.1 Vessel, of potable water of dimensions appropriate to
pounds that are manufactured in preformed shapes such as permit proper submergence of the specimens as described in
gaskets, and that are used as compression seals for glazing Section 9.
purposes and as sealing materials in other applications in 5.2 Stand and Clamps, to hold specimens.
building construction. 5.3 Balance, triple-beam, accurate to 0.01 g.
1.2 This standard does not purport to address all of the 5.4 Paper, lint-free blotting.
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro- 6. Comparison to Other Standards
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica- 6.1 The ASTM Committee with jurisdiction over this stan-
bility of regulatory limitations prior to use. dard1 is not aware of any comparable standards published by
1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the other organizations.
standard. The values given in parentheses are provided for
information purposes only. 7. Sampling and Test Specimens
7.1 Sampling:
2. Referenced Documents 7.1.1 When possible, the manufactured product or a suitable
2.1 ASTM Standards: section thereof shall be used for the test. Representative
C 717 Terminology of Building Seals and Sealants2 samples of the lot being examined shall be selected at random.
D 3182 Practice for Rubber—Materials, Equipment, and 7.1.2 When the manufactured product does not lend itself to
Procedures for Mixing Standard Compounds and Prepar- testing or to the taking of test specimens because of compli-
ing Standard Vulcanized Sheets3 cated shape, small size, metal or fabric inserts, or other reasons,
standard test strips shall be prepared. The standard specimens
3. Terminology for testing shall be as specified in 7.2.2.
3.1 Definitions—Refer to Terminology C 717 for the fol- 7.1.3 The manufacturer shall, upon the request of the
lowing terms used in this test method: cell, compound, purchaser at the time of ordering, furnish sufficient test
compression gasket, elastomer, elastomeric, gasket, glazing, specimens prepared in accordance with Practice D 3182.
seal, and sealing material. 7.2 Test Specimens:
3.2 Definitions of Terms Specific to This Standard: 7.2.1 The test specimen shall be 460 mm (18 in.) long.
3.2.1 cellular elastomer, n—in building construction, a 7.2.2 Test specimens that are to be prepared as described by
cured elastomeric material containing cells or small voids. 7.1.2 shall be 460 mm (18 in.) long, 13 mm (1⁄2 in.) thick, and
25 mm (1 in.) wide.
4. Significance and Use 7.2.3 All test specimens shall be made from the same
4.1 This test method will quantify the water absorption compound and shall have the same apparent density and state
characteristics of cellular elastomeric gaskets and sealing of cure as the product they represent.
materials. It is a test that enables the specifier to exercise 7.2.4 This test method requires ten test specimens.
engineering judgment in the selection of materials.
8. Conditioning
8.1 Condition all test specimens at 21.1 6 1.1°C (70 6 2°F)
1
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee C-24 on for at least 24 h prior to testing.
Building Seals and Sealants and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee C24.73
on Compression Seal and Lock-Strip Gaskets.
Current edition approved Jan. 10, 2000. Published March 2000. Originally
9. Procedure
published as C 1083 – 87. Last previous edition C 1083 – 91 (1995). 9.1 Identify each test specimen and individually weigh and
2
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 04.07. record the information.
3
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 09.01.

Copyright © ASTM, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, United States.

1
 C 1083
9.2 Secure the test specimens in a vertical position using 11. Precision and Bias 4
stands and clamps. Clamp at both ends of each specimen so 11.1 The precision and bias calculations for this test method
that the specimens are bent in a U-shape. are based on the results of four laboratories testing six
9.3 Submerge only the center 406 mm (16 in.) of the test materials.
specimens with the bottom of the loop 152 mm (6 in.) below 11.2 The between-laboratory accuracy of this test method in
the water line, and the cut ends of the specimen out of the the determination of water absorption (based on an average
water. over four laboratories) is 0.78 for the six test materials
9.4 Test specimens shall be submerged in potable water at evaluated. This means that if the absolute value of the
23.9 6 1.1°C (75 6 2°F) for a period of 24 h. difference between two values is greater than 0.78, then 95 %
9.5 Remove the test specimens from the water and blot with of the time this represents a statistical difference.
lint-free paper before weighing. The blotting should be done 11.3 Limited information is available on the precision of
with as little pressure as possible so that only the surface water this test method. Only one sample of each material has been
is removed from the specimen. tested in four laboratories using this test method. Past experi-
9.6 Weigh each test specimen and record the values. ence has shown that the within-laboratory precision of this test
method is expected to be less than the between-laboratory
10. Report
accuracy.
10.1 Report the following information:
10.1.1 Identification of each test specimen. 12. Keywords
10.1.2 Average weight of test specimens before testing. 12.1 absorption; cellular; elastomeric; gaskets; glazing;
10.1.3 Average weight of test specimens after testing. sealing materials; water
10.1.4 Average weight of water absorbed by the test speci-
mens. 4
Supporting data are available from ASTM Headquarters. Request RR:
10.1.5 Variation, if any, from the specified test procedure. C24 – 1083.

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