Mix Design

Savvy asphalt producers and terminal owners keep an eye on the liquid market all around the globe. The ups and downs seen in South Africa and China in the past year(s) aren’t the only indicators of economic growth spurts overseas. To illustrate the marketplace in India specifically, the following excerpt is from the Bitumart Annual […]

When Maryland first began pioneering the use of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) in the United States nearly two decades ago, Maryland Paving General Manager and Executive Vice President Jeff Graf was there. “Maryland was a leading state in the use of SMA,” he said. “And Maryland Paving was among the first companies to be paving […]

How cubical do the aggregate particles used in Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) need to be to achieve acceptable performance? European specifications require SMA aggregates to have no more than 30 percent Los Angeles (L.A.) abrasion loss (AASHTO T96) and no more than 20 percent flat and elongated (F&E) particles when measured at a 3:1 ratio […]

A customer in Region Limoges of France started testing with the Magna M-Terrain tires from Magna Tyres Group, headquartered in The Netherlands, on its Liebherr 586 wheel loader. The rock quarry put the machine through its paces for about 1,000 working hours, and still had 88 percent of the tread depth remaining. The dealer for […]

We all know that when roadways age they tend to crack. What we may not know, though, is exactly how to apply a solution to that problem that’ll last for more than a year or two. “If you place a new lift of asphalt pavement on top of concrete or asphalt that is already cracked, […]

In September 2015, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Expert Task Group on Mixtures and Construction formed a Balanced Mix Design Task Force. This group defined balanced mix design (BMD) as “asphalt mix design using performance tests on appropriately conditioned specimens that address multiple modes of distress taking into consideration mix aging, traffic, climate and location […]

You may have heard of a new asphalt binder parameter for evaluating age-related cracking potential. Pronounced delta tea see, it’s spelled out ΔTc. It’s defined as the numerical difference between the low continuous grade temperature determined from the Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) stiffness criteria (which is the temperature at which stiffness, S, equals 300 MPa) […]