Assessment of the Constancy of Performance of Cementitious Adhesives for Ceramic Tiles: Analysis of the Test Results Commissioned by Polish Market Surveillance Authorities

Abstract

Assessment and verification of constancy of performance (AVCP) is a complex process. Without it, the manufacturer cannot mark the product with the Conformitè Europëenne (CE) marking and place it on the EU market. The verification of the correctness of the AVCP is carried out by market surveillance. In Poland, supervision authorities regularly check manufacturers by collecting construction products that exist on the market for inspection. Among the dry-mix mortars, adhesives for ceramic tiles (CTA) constitute an essential group. The requirements for CTAs are specified in EN 12004. According to the standard, the basic characteristics of cementitious CTAs are tensile adhesion strength and open time. The adhesion measurements are performed after various laboratory conditions tests. The study analyzes the results obtained for 129 samples of cementitious CTAs, collected between the years 2016 and 2019 from the market, and tested in notified laboratories at the request of Polish construction supervision authorities. Many tested products did not meet the threshold values, which resulted in removing them from the market. The paper discusses the complexity of the tensile adhesion strength measurement. The obtained test results are considered in various dimensions, including using the simple acceptance rule method when evaluating the results, which does not consider the measurement uncertainty.

Understanding of Construction Product Assessment Issues and Sustainability among Investors, Architects, Contractors, and Sellers of Construction Products in Poland

“…Tests of construction products, performed commonly at Polish construction supervision authorities' request, are not standard in the EU countries. Therefore, the Polish market of construction materials is fundamentally different in this respect [59,60]. Taking into account the massive scale of inspections, especially with the participation of contractors and sellers of construction materials, one would expect, in this case, one hundred percent correct answers.…”

Redispersible polymer powder modified cementitious tile adhesive as an alternative to ordinary cement-sand grout

“…In order to continue CTA's upward trend in the market, further research and development is an indisputable aspect. In addition, assessment programs like Polish Market Surveillance Authorities can be carried out to assure the consistency of the performance of CTA [86].…”

Construction Products between Testing Laboratory and Market Surveillance: Case study of Cementitious Ceramic Tile Adhesives

“…Thus, the conformity assessment is even more difficult—it often raises the question of to what extent the evaluation of the construction product based on the tests is reliable in the case of construction products [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Notably, the opinion of the laboratory often plays a decisive role—this is the case in the assessment of construction products collected from the market by market surveillance authorities and checking whether the product meets the parameters declared by the manufacturer [ 19 , 23 , 24 ].…”