Rubber waterstop is produced from natural rubber, chloroprene rubber (CR), EPDM rubber, or their blends, through compounding, calendaring and vulcanization. Its most notable characteristic is high elasticity combined with excellent tensile and compressive recovery, allowing it to maintain a continuous seal as concrete joints repeatedly open and close, making it an ideal choice for large-movement joints.
Different rubber compounds offer varied suitability: natural rubber types provide outstanding mechanical strength and elasticity for conventional hydraulic and municipal works; chloroprene rubber has favorable weather, ozone and oil resistance for relatively complex environmental conditions; EPDM rubber excels in aging resistance and broad temperature tolerance, making it suitable for exposed or shallow-buried applications in extremely cold or hot regions.
A wide range of profile configurations is available. Beyond standard central-bulb and flat types, various custom profiles can be manufactured to meet specific engineering requirements. Dimensions including width, thickness and length can all be flexibly adjusted to suit different joint widths, movement capacities and installation spaces, ensuring close integration with the concrete structure design.
During installation, centrally placed and externally bonded methods are the two main positioning approaches. Large-scale projects typically use hot vulcanization joints or high-strength special adhesive systems to ensure a complete and continuous sealing line.
This type of waterstop is extensively used in highway and railway tunnel linings, metro stations, culverts, transverse joints of gravity dams, lock chambers, and key movement joints of large water-retaining structures, delivering stable long-term service performance under high hydrostatic pressure and dynamic loading conditions.
