A brief review of sealants for cement concrete pavement joints and cracks

Pavement, as an important transportation infrastructure, plays an essential role in modern society. Joints and cracks, which are either designed for or created by internal and external means, must be filled in with proper sealant to stop penetration of water into the surface layer and layers beneath; otherwise, they usually lead to severer premature structural failure. In this paper, we briefly reviewed the various types of sealants available for cement concrete pavement, their performance, and their selection and evaluation methods. In particular, we discussed some new developments in sealant research, that is, using shape memory polymers as sealants. We concluded the brief review with some future perspectives.