What is Asphalt?

Asphalt is a mixture of aggregates, binder and filler, used for constructing and maintaining all kind of roads, parking areas but also play- and sport areas. Aggregates used for asphalt mixtures could be crushed rock, sand, gravel or slags. In order to bind the aggregates into a cohesive mixture a binder is used. Most commonly, bitumen is used as a binder. An average asphalt pavement consists of the road structure above the formation level which includes unbound and bituminous-bound materials. This gives the pavement the ability to distribute the loads of the traffic before it arrives at the formation level. Normally, pavements are made of different layers:

Uses of Asphalt:
Although asphalt is mainly used for paving roads, it can also be used for various other purposes. The versatility of asphalt makes it such a widely used material. Among others, it can be found in the following sectors: Transportation (e.g. roads, railway beds or airport runways, taxiways, etc.), Recreation (playgrounds, bicycle paths, running tracks, tennis courts...) Agriculture (barn floors, greenhouse floors...) Industrial (ports, landfill caps, work sites...) Building construction (floorings...)

By: Engr Muhammad Bilal Israr

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How is Asphalt produced:

Asphalt can be produced in a fixed plant or even in a mobile mixing plant. It is possible to produce up to 800 tons per hour. The average production temperature of hot mix asphalt is between 150 and 190C, which depends however on the mixture produced (see below).

Different kinds of Asphalt:

To be able to provide the best performance to different sectors, a large variety of asphalt mixes can be offered. Due to the different requirements e.g. a road needs to fulfill (high traffic, tough weather conditions etc) the respective mix used needs to have an sufficient stiffness and resistance to deformation in order to cope with the applied pressure from vehicle wheels on the one hand, yet on the other hand, the need to have an adequate flexural strength to resist cracking caused by the varying pressures exerted on them. Moreover, good workability during application is essential in order to ensure that they can be fully compacted to achieve optimum durability.

Hot Mix o Hot mixes are produced at a temperature between 150 and 190 C. o Depending on the usage, a different asphalt mixture can be used. Porous Asphalt Stone Mastic Asphalt Mastic Asphalt Hot Rolled Asphalt Soft Asphalt Asphalt Concrete Asphalt Concrete for very thin layers Asphalt Concrete for ultra thin layers Double layered Porous Asphalt o Warm Mix A typical WMA is produced at a temperature around 20 - 40 C lower than an equivalent Hot Mix Asphalt. Less energy is involved and, during the paving operations, the temperature in the mix is lower, resulting in improved working conditions for the crew and an earlier opening of the road. o Cold Mix Cold mixes are produced without heating the aggregate. This is only possible, due to the use of a specific bitumen emulsion which breaks either during compaction or during mixing. After breaking, the emulsion coats the aggregate and over time, increases its strengths. Cold mixes are particularly recommendable for lightly trafficked roads.

By: Engr Muhammad Bilal Israr

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Did you know that...

...asphalt is sometimes referred to as a flexible pavement. This is due to its ability to largely resist the stress imposed by slight settlements of the subgrade without cracking. ...asphalt is the predominant material used for road construction and maintaining the road network in Europe? ...25% of the total world asphalt production takes place in Europe? ...the average amount of bitumen used in asphalt is 5% by weight? ...Europe has over 4.000 asphalt production sides and over 10.000 companies are involved in the asphalt production and or laying?

By: Engr Muhammad Bilal Israr

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