Time- and cost-efficient caulking in hydraulic steel construction

In hydraulic steel construction, the time factor plays one of the main roles, because no construction or repair measure can do without taking this difficult factor into account. Whether as the “ravages of time” with its unpleasantly corrosive character or in its all-dominant role as “time is money”.

This relationship is particularly evident in the area of transport infrastructure, as interruptions to operations due to maintenance work have a particularly painful financial and economic impact here.

This is why time-saving methods are needed in hydraulic steel construction to reduce the time and effort required for repair and installation. This is exactly what is possible with our MM1018 gap filling material, which was the first of its kind to receive general building authority approval from the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt) in January 2013. Since then, it has been used in over 1000 structures, the majority of which are hydraulic steel structures.

One of the most common applications is caulking with MM1018 Liquid as an alternative to classic lining sheets. The advantage of MM1018 over the lining sheets is that it always closes the gap over the entire surface, regardless of how the caulking noggin has to be aligned and how the gap is designed. It is corrosion-inhibiting, which prevents gap corrosion, which is a critical issue with liner plates, meaning that the caulking noggings can withstand the demanding conditions in hydraulic steel construction for longer. MM1018 is very easy to install due to its fluid form and provides 100% positive and positive locking, unlike lining plates which, depending on the complexity of the gap, cannot provide full contact between the gate and the caulking cleat.

The cover picture shows a lock on the Moselle where we cast 21 caulking noggins within just 2 working days. The particular challenge here was to fill the gate, which had to be aligned in the closed state, with our MM1018, as this made accessibility considerably more difficult, but due to the liquid consistency, MM1018 could be applied without any problems and the navigation barrier could be maintained.