Asphalt

Asphalt/ sf lt/ ( listen) is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits. Until the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used.[1] It is most commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase (though there is some disagreement amongst chemists regarding its structure).[citation needed] One writer states that although a "considerable amount of work has been done on the composition of asphalt, it is exceedingly difficult to separate individual hydrocarbon in pure form",[2] and "it is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large".[3] In American English, asphalt (or asphalt cement) is the carefully refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils. Outside the U.S., the product is often called bitumen. Natural deposits terminology also sometimes uses the word bitumen, such as at the La Brea Tar Pits. The primary use of asphalt is in road construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete.

Trinidad Lake asphalt.

The History of Asphalt The story of asphalt begins thousands of years before the founding of the United States. Asphalt occurs naturally in both asphalt lakes and in rock asphalt (a mixture of sand, limestone and asphalt). The ancient Mesopotamians used it to waterproof temple baths and water tanks. The Phoenicians caulked the seams of their merchant ships with asphalt. In the days of the Pharaohs, Egyptians used the material as mortar for rocks laid along the banks of the Nile to prevent erosion, and the infant Moses' basket was waterproofed with asphalt. 625 B.C. The first recorded use of asphalt as a road-building material in Babylon. The ancient Greeks were also familiar with asphalt. The word asphalt comes from the Greek "asphaltos," meaning "secure." The Romans used it to seal their baths, reservoirs and aqueducts. 1595 Europeans exploring the New World discovered natural deposits of asphalt. Sir Walter Raleigh described a "plain" (or lake) of asphalt on the island of Trinidad, near Venezuela. He used it for re-caulking his ships. Early 1800s Thomas Telford built more than 900 miles of roads in Scotland, perfecting the method of building roads with broken stones. His contemporary, John Loudon McAdam, used broken stone joined to form a hard surface to build a Scottish turnpike. Later, to reduce dust and maintenance, builders used hot tar to bond the broken stones together, producing "tarmacadam" pavements. 1870 Belgian chemist Edmund J. DeSmedt laid the first true asphalt pavement in the U.S. in Newark, N.J. DeSmedt also paved Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. using 54,000 square yards of sheet asphalt from Trinidad Lake. The Cummer Company opened the first central hot mix production facilities in the U.S. The first asphalt patent was filed by Nathan B. Abbott of Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1871. 1900 Frederick J. Warren filed a patent for "Bitulithic" pavement, a mixture of bitumen and aggregate

("bitu" from "bitumen" and "lithic" from "lithos," the Greek word for rock). The first modern asphalt facility was built in 1901 by Warren Brothers in East Cambridge, Mass. 1907 Production of refined petroleum asphalt outstripped the use of natural asphalt. As automobiles grew in popularity, the demand for more and better roads led to innovations in both producing and laying asphalt. Steps toward mechanization included drum mixers and portland cement concrete mechanical spreaders for the first machine-laid asphalt. 1942 During World War II, asphalt technology greatly improved, spurred by the need of military aircraft for surfaces that could stand up to heavier loads. 1955 The National Bituminous Concrete Association (forerunner of the National Asphalt Pavement Association or NAPA) was founded. One of the first activities: a Quality Improvement Program, which sponsored asphalt testing at universities and private testing labs. 1956 Congress passed the Interstate Highways Act, allotting $51 billion to the states for road construction. Contractors needed bigger and better equipment. Innovations since then include electronic leveling controls, extra-wide finishers for paving two lanes at once and vibratory steelwheel rollers. 1970s The national energy crisis underscored the need for conservation of natural resources. Since that time, an increasing amount of recycled asphalt has been incorporated in mixes. Today, asphalt pavement is America's most recycled material with more than 70 million metric tons of asphalt paving material is recycled each year. 1986 NAPA established the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University, Alabama, providing a centralized, systematic approach to asphalt research. NCAT recently opened a new research center and test track and is now the world's leading institution for asphalt pavement research. 2002 The EPA announced that asphalt plants are no longer on its list of industries considered major sources of hazardous air pollutants.

History
Asphalt as a paving material dates back to 1815, when Scottish road engineer John McAdam (or MacAdam) developed a road surface consisting of a compacted layer of small stones and sand sprayed with water. The water dissolved the natural salts on the stones and helped cement the materials together. This type of road surface was named water macadam in his honor. Later, coal tar was used as a binding material instead of water, and the new pavement became known as tar macadam, from which we get the shortened term tarmac that is sometimes used to describe asphalt pavement. Tar macadam pavement was used in the United States up through the beginning of the twentieth century. Modern mixed asphalt pavement, which provides a more durable road surface, was introduced in the 1920s. Unlike macadam, in which the stone and sand aggregates are laid on the road surface before being sprayed with the binding material, the aggregates in mixed asphalt are coated with the binding material before they are laid. At first, mixed asphalt was simply dumped on the roadway and raked or graded level before being rolled smooth. In 1931 Harry Barber, of Barber-Greene Company, developed the first mechanical asphalt paver in the United States. It traveled on a set of steel rails and included a combination loader and mixer to proportion and blend the components before spreading the asphalt evenly over the road surface. The rails were soon replaced by crawler tracks, and the first production paver came off the Barber-Greene line in 1934. This new machine quickly became popular with road builders because it allowed them to place asphalt more rapidly and with greater uniformity. Hydraulic drives replaced mechanical drives in pavers during the late 1950s to give the operator even smoother control. Today, almost all asphalt is placed using paving machines. When you consider that 98% of the roads in the United States are asphalt, you can understand the value of the asphalt paver.

Read more: How asphalt paver is made - material, history, used, parts, components, dimensions, machine, History, Raw Materials, Design, The Manufacturing Process, Quality Control, The Futurehttp://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Asphalt-Paver.html#ixzz1QFn3jO8R

Uses

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear asphalt is roads. But the versatility of asphalt makes it the ideal material for other applications and locations: from driveways to runways, from the barn floor to the ocean floor. HMA is also used worldwide as a practical solution to water storage, flood control, erosion, and conservation problems. Asphalt has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and used successfully as a primary liner for both sanitary and hazardous waste landfills. You'll find asphalt all around you in a variety of uses, including:

y y y y y y

Transportation - highways, railbeds for transit systems, airport runways Recreational - running tracks, greenway trails, playgrounds, bicycle and golf cart paths, racetracks, basketball and tennis courts Aquatic - fish hatcheries, reservoir liners, industrial retention ponds, sea walls, dikes and groins to control beach erosion Residential - driveways, subdivision roads Agricultural - cattle feed lots, poultry house floors, barn floors, greenhouse floors Industrial - work sites, log yards, ports, freight yards, landfill caps

Etymology
The word asphalt is derived from the late Middle English : from French asphalte, based on Late Latinasphalton, asphaltum, which is the latinisation of the Greek (sphaltos, sphalton), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/pitch" which some derive from - "without" and , (sfall ), "to make fall".[4] Note that in French, the term asphalte is used for naturally occurring bitumen-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads. Another description has it that the term derives from the Accadian term asphaltu or sphallo, meaning "to split." It was later adopted from the Homeric Greeks as a verb meaning "to make firm or stable," "to secure".[citation needed] It is a significant fact that the first use of asphalt by the ancients was in the nature of a cement for securing or joining together various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French ("asphalte") and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt"). The expression "bitumen" originated in the Sanskrit, where we find the words "jatu," meaning "pitch," and "jatu-krit," meaning "pitch creating," "pitch producing" (referring to coniferous or resinous trees). The Latin equivalent is claimed by some to be originally 'gwitu-men' (pertaining to pitch), and by others, "pixtumens" (exuding or bubbling pitch), which was subsequently shortened to "bitumen," thence passing via French into English. From the same root is derived the Anglo Saxon word "cwidu" (Mastix), the German word "Kitt" (cement or mastic) and the old Norse word "kvada".[5]

[edit] Modern usage

In British English, the word 'asphalt' is used to refer to a mixture of mineral aggregate and bitumen (or tarmac in common parlance). The earlier word 'asphaltum' is now archaic and not commonly used. In American English, 'asphalt' is equivalent to the British 'bitumen'. However,

'asphalt' is also commonly used as a shortened form of 'asphalt concrete' (therefore equivalent to the British 'asphalt' or 'tarmac'). In Australian English, bitumen is sometimes used as the generic term for road surfaces. In Canadian English, the word bitumen is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil known also as 'oil sands' or tar sands.,[6] while asphalt is used for the oil refinery product used to pave roads and manufacture roof shingles. Diluted bitumen (diluted with naphtha to make it flow in pipelines) is known as dilbit in the Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen "upgraded" to synthetic crude oil is known as syncrude and syncrude blended with bitumen as synbit.[7]

[edit] Background

Asphalt concrete being used to pave a street in Po - SP - Brazil. Asphalt or bitumen can sometimes be confused with tar, which is a similar black thermo-plastic material produced by the destructive distillation of coal. During the early- and mid-20th century when town gas was produced, tar was a readily available product and extensively used as the binder for road aggregates. The addition of tar to macadam roads led to the word tarmac, which is now used in common parlance to refer to road making materials. However, since the 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, asphalt (bitumen) has completely overtaken the use of tar in these applications. Other examples of this confusion include the La Brea Tar Pits and the

Canadian Tar Sands. Pitch is another term mistakenly used at times to refer to asphalt/bitumen, as in Pitch Lake. Natural deposits of asphalt include lake asphalts (primarily from the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Lake Bermudez in Venezuela), Gilsonite, the Dead Sea, bituminous rock and Tar Sands. Asphalt was mined at Ritchie Mines in Macfarlan in Ritchie County, West Virginia in the United States from 1852 to 1873. Bituminous rock was mined at many locations in the United States for use as a paving material, primarily during the late 1800s. Asphalt can be separated from the other components in crude oil (such as naphtha, gasoline and diesel) by the process of fractional distillation, usually under vacuum conditions. A better separation can be achieved by further processing of the heavier fractions of the crude oil in a deasphalting unit, which uses either propane or butane in a supercritical phase to dissolve the lighter molecules which are then separated. Further processing is possible by "blowing" the product: namely reacting it with oxygen. This makes the product harder and more viscous. Asphalt is typically stored and transported at temperatures around 150 degrees Celsius (300 F). Sometimes diesel oil or keroseneare mixed in before shipping to retain liquidity; upon delivery, these lighter materials are separated out of the mixture. This mixture is often called bitumen feedstock, or BFS. Some dump trucks route the hot engine exhaust through pipes in the dump body to keep the material warm. The backs of tippers carrying asphalt, as well as some handling equipment, are also commonly sprayed with a releasing agent before filling to aid release. Diesel oil is sometimes used as a release agent, although it can mix with and thereby reduce the quality of the asphalt.

[edit] Known uses

[edit] Ancient times
In the ancient Middle East, natural asphalt deposits were used for mortar between bricks and stones, to cement parts of carvings, such as eyes, into place, for ship caulking, and for waterproofing.[1] The Persian word for asphalt is moom, which is related to the English word mummy. Asphalt was also used by ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies.[1][8] In the ancient Far East, natural asphalt was slowly boiled to get rid of the higher fractions, leaving a material of higher molecular weight which is thermoplastic and when layered on objects, became quite hard upon cooling. This was used to cover objects that needed waterproofing,[1] such as scabbards and other items. Statuettes of household deities were also cast with this type of material in Japan, and probably also in China.[citation needed] In North America, archaeological recovery has indicated that asphalt was sometimes used to adhere stone projectile points to a wooden shaft.[9]

[edit] Early use in Europe

Asphalt (bitumen) deposit of the Puy de la Poix, Clermont-Ferrand, France An 1838 edition of Mechanics Magazine cites an early use of asphalt in France. A pamphlet dated 1621, by "a certain Monsieur d'Eyrinys, states that he had discovered the existence (of asphaltum) in large quantities in the vicinity of Neufchatel", and that he proposed to use it in a variety of ways - "principally in the construction of air-proof granaries, and in protecting, by means of the arches, the water-courses in the city of Paris from the intrusin of dirt and filth", which at that time made the water unusable. "He expatiates also on the excellence of this material for forming level and durable terraces" in palaces, "the notion of forming such terraces in the streets not one likely to cross the brain of a Parisian of that generation".[10] But it was generally neglected in France until the revolution of 1830. Then, in the 1830s, there was a surge of interest, and asphalt became widely used "for pavements, flat roofs, and the lining of cisterns, and in England, some use of it had been made of it for similar purposes". Its rise in Europe was "a sudden phenomenon", after natural deposits were found "in France at Osbann (BasRhin), the Parc (l'Ain) and the Puy-de-la-Poix (Puy-de-Dome)", although it could also be made artificially.[11] One of the earliest uses in France was the laying of about 24,000 square yards of Seyssel asphalt at the Place de la Concorde in 1835.[12]

[edit] Early use in the United Kingdom

Among the earlier uses of asphalt in the United Kingdom, was for etching. William Salmon's Polygraphice (1673) provides a recipe for varnish used in etching, consisting of three ounces of virgin wax, two ounces of mastic, and one ounce of asphaltum.[13] By the fifth edition in 1685, he had included more asphaltum recipes from other sources.[14] The first British patent for the use of asphalt was 'Cassell's patent asphalte or bitumen' in 1834.[11] Then on 25 November 1837, Richard TappinClaridge patented the use of Seyssel asphalt (patent #7849), for use in asphalte pavement,[15][16] having seen it employed in France and Belgium when visiting with Frederick Walter Simms, who worked with him on the

introduction of asphalt to Britain.[17][18]Dr T. Lamb Phipson claims that his father, Samuel Ryland Phipson, a friend of Claridge, was also "instrumental in introducing the asphalte pavement (in 1836)".[19] Indeed, mastic pavements had been previously employed at Vauxhall by a competitor of Claridge, but without success.[12] In 1838, Claridge obtained patents in Scotland on 27 March, and Ireland on 23 April, and in 1851 extensions were sought for all three patents, by the trustees of a company previously formed by Claridge.[11][20][21][22] This was Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company, formed in 1838 for the purpose of introducing to Britain "Asphalte in its natural state from the mine at PyrimontSeysell in France",[23] and "laid one of the first asphalt pavements in Whitehall".[24] Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks,[23][25] "and subsequently on the space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park".[25] "The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (with a distinguished list of aristocratic patrons, and Marc and Isambard Brunel as, respectively, a trustee and consulting engineer), gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry".[21] "By the end of 1838, at least two other companies, Robinson's and the Bastenne company, were in production",[26] with asphalt being laid as paving at Brighton, Herne Bay, Canterbury, Kensington, the Strand, and a large floor area in Bunhill-row, while meantime Claridge's Whitehall paving "continue(d) in good order".[27] Indeed in 1838, there was a flurry of entrepreneurial activity over asphalt, which had uses beyond paving. For example, asphalt could also used for flooring, damp proofing in buildings, and for waterproofing of various types of pools and baths, with these latter themselves proliferating in the 19th century.[1][11][28] On the London stockmarket, there were various claims as to the exclusivity of asphalt quality from France, Germany and England. And numerous patents were granted in France, with similar numbers of patent applications being denied in England due to their similarity to each other. In England, "Claridge's was the type most used in the 1840s and 50s" [26] In 1914, Claridge's Company entered into a joint venture to produce tar-bound macadam,[29] with materials manufactured through a subsidiary company called Clarmac Roads Ltd.[30] Two products resulted, namely Clarmac, and Clarphalte, with the former being manufactured by Clarmac Roads and the latter by Claridge's Patent Asphalte Co., although Clarmac was more widely used.[31][a] However, the First World War impacted financially on the Clarmac Company, which entered into liquidation in 1915.[32][33] The failure of Clarmac Roads Ltd had a flow-on effect to Claridge's Company, which was itself compulsorily wound up,[34] ceasing operations in 1917,[35][36] having invested a substantial amount of funds into the new venture, both at the outset,[34] and in a subsequent attempt to save the Clarmac Company.[32]

[edit] Early use in the United States

The first use of asphaltum in the New World was by indigenous peoples. On the west coast, as early as the 13th century, the Tongva, Luiseo and Chumash peoples collected the naturally occurring asphaltum that seeped to the surface above underlying petroleum deposits. All three used the substance as an adhesive. It is found on many different artifacts of tools and ceremonial items. For example, it was used on rattles to adhere gourds or turtle shells to rattle handles. It

was also used in decorations. Small round shell beads were often set in asphaltum to provide decorations. It was used as a sealant on baskets to make them water tight for carrying water. Asphaltum was used also to seal the planks on ocean-going canoes. Roads in the US have been paved with asphalt since at least 1870, when a street in front of Newark, NJ's City Hall was paved. In 1876, asphalt was used to pave Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, in time for the celebration of the national centennial.[37] Asphalt was also used for flooring, paving and waterproofing of baths and swimming pools during the early 20th century, following similar trends in Europe.[28]

[edit] Rolled asphalt concrete

The largest use of asphalt is for making asphalt concrete for road surfaces and accounts for approximately 85% of the asphalt consumed in the United States. Asphalt pavement material is commonly composed of 5 percent asphalt cement and 95 percent aggregates (stone, sand, and gravel). Due to its highly viscous nature, asphalt cement must be heated so that it can be mixed with the aggregates at the asphalt mixing plant. There are about 4,000 asphalt mixing plants in the U.S. Asphalt road surface is the most widely recycled material in the US, both by gross tonnage and by percentage. According to a report issued by the Federal Highway Administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 80% of the asphalt removed each year from road surfaces during widening and resurfacing projects is reused as part of new roads, roadbeds, shoulders and embankments. Roofing shingles account for most of the remaining asphalt consumption. Other uses include cattle sprays, fence post treatments, and waterproofing for fabrics. Asphalt is widely used in airports around the world. Due to the sturdiness, it is widely used for runways dedicated to aircraft landing and taking off.

[edit] Mastic asphalt

Mastic asphalt is a type of asphalt which differs from dense graded asphalt (asphalt concrete) in that it has a higher bitumen (binder) content, usually around 710% of the whole aggregate mix, as opposed to rolled asphalt, which has only around 5% added bitumen. This thermoplastic substance is widely used in the building industry for waterproofing flat roofs and tanking underground. Mastic asphalt is heated to a temperature of 210 C (410 F) and is spread in layers to form an impervious barrier about 20 millimeters (0.79 in) thick.

[edit] Asphalt emulsion

A number of technologies allow asphalt to be mixed at much lower temperatures. These involve mixing the asphalt with petroleum solvents to form "cutbacks" with reduced melting point or mixtures with water to turn the asphalt into an emulsion. Asphalt emulsions contain up to 70% asphalt and typically less than 1.5% chemical additives. There are two main types of emulsions

with different affinity for aggregates, cationic and anionic. Asphalt emulsions are used in a wide variety of applications. Chipseal involves spraying the road surface with asphalt emulsion followed by a layer of crushed rock, gravel or crushed slag. Slurry Seal involves the creation of a mixture of asphalt emulsion and fine crushed aggregate that is spread on the surface of a road. Cold mixed asphalt can also be made from asphalt emulsion to create pavements similar to hotmixed asphalt, several inches in depth and asphalt emulsions are also blended into recycled hotmix asphalt to create low cost pavements.

[edit] Alternatives and bioasphalt

Main articles: Peak oil, Global warming, and Bioasphalt Certain activist groups have become increasingly concerned about the global peak oil and climate change problem in recent years due to by-products that are released into the atmosphere. Most of the emissions are derived primarily from burning fossil fuels. This has led to the introduction of petroleum bitumen alternatives that are more environmentally friendly and nontoxic.

Introduction

Figure 1. Asphalt highway. (Source: Asphalt Pavement Association of Indiana)

Asphalt is a dark brown-to-black cement-like material obtained by petroleum refining and containing bitumens as the predominant component. Bitumen is a generic term for natural or manufactured black or dark-colored solid, semisolid, or viscous cementitious materials that are composed mainly of high-molecular weight hydrocarbons. The term includes tars and pitches derived from coal. Asphalt is used primarily for road construction and roofing materials due to its remarkable waterproofing and binding properties. The hard surfaces of roads, for example, depend on the ability of asphalt to cement together aggregates of stone and sand. The first recorded use of asphalt as a road building material was in Babylon around 625 B.C., in the reign of King Naboppolassar. In "A Century of Progress: The History of Hot Mix Asphalt", author Hugh Gillespie notes that an inscription on a brick records the paving of Procession Street in Babylon, which led from his palace to the north wall of the city, with asphalt and burned brick.

Properties of asphalt

Asphalts are highly complex and not well-characterized materials containing saturated and unsaturated aliphatic and aromatic compounds with up to 150 carbon atoms. Their composition varies depending on the source of crude oil. Many of the compounds contain oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and other heteroatoms. Asphalt typically contains about 80% by weight of carbon; around 10% hydrogen; up to 6% sulfur; small amounts of oxygen and nitrogen; and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, and vanadium. The molecular weights of the constituent compounds range from several hundred to many thousands. The compounds are classified as asphaltenes or maltenes according to their solubility in hexane or heptane. Asphaltenes are high-molecular weight species that are insoluble in these solvents, whereas maltenes have lower molecular weights and are soluble. Asphalts normally contain between 5 and 25% by weight of asphaltenes and may be regarded as colloids of asphaltene micelles dispersed in maltenes. Many of the compounds in asphalt are polar since they contain alcohol, carboxyl, phenolic, amine, thiol, and other functional groups. As a result of this polarity, the molecules self-assemble to form multimolecular clusters with molecular weights up to 100,000. The adhesion of asphalt to aggregate is also thought to depend on the polar attraction between molecules in asphalt and the polar surfaces of aggregates.

Production of asphalt
Asphalt is a portion of the residual fraction that remains after primary distillation operations. It is further processed to impart characteristics required by its final use. In vacuum distillation, generally used to produce road-tar asphalt, the residual is heated to about 750 F and charged to a column where vacuum is applied to prevent cracking. Asphalt for roofing materials is produced by air blowing. Residual is heated in a pipe still almost to its flash point and charged to a blowing tower where hot air is injected for a predetermined time. The dehydrogenization of the asphalt forms hydrogen sulfide, and the oxidation creates sulfur dioxide. Steam, used to blanket the top of the tower to entrain the various contaminants, is then passed through a scrubber to condense the hydrocarbons. A third process used to produce asphalt is solvent deasphalting. In this extraction process, which uses propane (or hexane) as a solvent, heavy oil fractions are separated to produce heavy lubricating oil, catalytic cracking feedstock, and asphalt. Feedstock and liquid propane are pumped to an extraction tower at precisely controlled mixtures, temperatures (150-250 F), and pressures of 350-600 psi. Separation occurs in a rotating disc contactor, based on differences in solubility. The products are then evaporated and steam stripped to recover the propane, which is recycled. Deasphalting also removes some sulfur and nitrogen compounds, metals, carbon residues, and paraffins from the feedstock.

Introduction
A brief view of how pavement design, construction and performance has evolved should help provide perspective on present and, possible, future practice. This short view into the past will start with the Romans, then move on to the Macadam and Telford era, then into the first 150 years of asphalt and portland cement concrete pavement. The evolution of pavement design will emphasize the U.S.A. and the U.K. a bit more than for other parts of the world.
[edit]

Roman Roads
In fairness, the Carthaginians are generally credited with being the first to construct and maintain a road system (about 600 B.C.) according to Tillson [1900]. The Romans eventually decided that their neighbors across the Mediterranean were a bit of a threat to the empire destroying Carthage in 146 B.C. (The Carthage ruins are located in Tunisia (Northern Africa) next door to Algeria (on the left) and Libya (on the right so to speak).) It is suggested that the Romans took up the practice of a military road system from the Carthaginians. It is estimated that the Romans built about 87,000 km of roads within their empire (about equal to the length of the U.S. Interstate system). Apparently, there is no record of "traditional" roads in the U.K. prior to the Romans [Collins and Hart, 1936]. For the most part, the main Roman roads in the U.K. (total of about 4 100 km) was for military purposes in that they connected camps which were about 30 km apart (or about one day's march) [Collins and Hart, 1936; Rose, 1935; Leger, 1875]. Since the primary purpose of these roads was for foot soldiers, the roads were straight, but virtually without regard to grade. They generated high noise levels, were rough and labor intensive (slave and "statue" labor often used). The Roman design for their primary U.K. roads generally consisted of four layers (top to bottom) as follows [Collins and Hart, 1936]:
y y y y

Summa Crusta (surfacing): Smooth, polygonal blocks bedded in underlying layer. Nucleus: A kind of base layer composed of gravel and sand with lime cement. Rudus: The third layer was composed of rubble masonry and smaller stones also set in lime mortar. Statumen: Two or three courses of flat stones set in lime mortar.

The total thickness was as much as 0.9 m and road widths of 4.3 m or less. An illustration of Roman pavement structure near Radstock, England, is shown as Figure 1. Roman roads in some countries have been up to 2.4 m thick. These structures had crowned (sloped) surfaces to enhance drainage and often incorporated ditches and/or underground drains. As one might expect, Roman road building was varied to suit local conditions and materials not unlike today actually. The Romans departed the U.K. about AD 406. Road design and construction languished for about 1,200 years thereafter.

Figure 1. Roman Pavement Structure NearRadstock, England (southwestern part of U.K. near Bristol) [after Collins and Hart (1936)]

Roman road construction was not inexpensive. Updated construction estimates of the Appian Way in Italy are about $2,000,000 per km (updated estimates following Rose [1935] and Leger [1875]). The oldest known road in the U.K. is near the River Brue in southwestern England [Coles, 1989]. Actually, the "road" is a 6,000 year old walkway which was discovered in 1970 in a peat bog. The construction of the road coincides with the arrival of the first farmers in the U.K. about 4,000 B.C.
[edit]

Telford and Macadam

[edit]

Telford
Thomas Telford (born 1757) served his apprenticeship as a building mason [Smiles, 1904]. Because of this, he extended his masonry knowledge to bridge building. During lean times, he carved grave-stones and other ornamental work (about 1780). Eventually, Telford became the "Surveyor of Public Works" for the county of Salop [Smiles, 1904], thus turning his attention more to roads. Telford attempted, where possible, to build roads on relatively flat grades (no more than 1 in 30) in order to reduce the number of horses needed to haul cargo. Further, the pavement section was about 350 to 450 mm in depth and generally specified in three layers. The bottom layer was comprised of large stones (100 mm) wide and 75 to 180 mm in depth) [Collins and Hart, 1936].

It is this specific layer which makes the Telford design unique [Baker, 1903]. On top of this were placed two layers of stones of 65 mm maximum size (about 150 to 250 mm total thickness) followed by a wearing course of gravel about 40 mm thick (refer to Figure 2). It was estimated that this system would support a load corresponding to 88 N/mm (500 lb per in. of width).

Figure 2. Typical Telford Pavement Structure (after Collins and Hart [1.17]) [edit]

Macadam
John Macadam (born 1756) observed that most of the "paved" U.K. roads in early 1800s were composed of rounded gravel [Smiles, 1904]. He knew that angular aggregate over a wellcompacted subgrade would perform substantially better. He used a sloped subgrade surface to improve drainage (unlike Telford who used a flat subgrade surface) on which he placed angular aggregate (hand-broken, maximum size 75 mm) in two layers for a total depth of about 200 mm [Gillette, 1906]. On top of this, the wearing course was placed (about 50 mm thick with a maximum aggregate size of 25 mm) [Collins, 1936]. Macadam's reason for the 25 mm maximum aggregate size was to provide a "smooth" ride for wagon wheels. Thus, the total depth of a typical Macadam pavement was about 250 mm (refer to Figure 3). An interesting quote attributed to Macadam about allowable maximum aggregate sizes was that "no stone larger than will enter a man's mouth should go into a road" [Gillette, 1906]. The largest permissible load for this type of design was estimated to be 158 N/mm (900 lb per in. width). In 1815, Macadam was appointed "surveyor-general" of the Bristol roads and was now able to use his design on numerous projects. It proved successful enough that the term "macadamized" became a term for this type of pavement design and construction. The term "macadam" is also used to indicate "broken stone" pavement [Baker, 1903]. By 1850, about 2,200 km of macadam type pavements were in use in the urban areas of the UK. Macadam realized that the layers of broken stone would eventually become "bound" together by fines generated by traffic. With the introduction of the rock crusher, large mounds of stone dust and screenings were generated

[Gillette, 1906]. This resulted in use of such fines resulting in the more traditional dense graded base materials which in turn produced pavement thicknesses as thin as 100 to 150 mm. The first macadam pavement in the U.S. was constructed in Maryland in 1823.

Figure 3. Typical Macadam Pavement Structure (after Collins and Hart, 1936) [edit]

Early Thickness Trends

Thus, we have seen pavement structures decrease from about 0.9 m (3 feet) for Roman designs to 350 to 450 mm for Telford designs, to about 250 mm for Macadam designs, to 100 mm at about the turn of the century (refer to Figure 4). (Naturally, the thinnest pavements were not always used.) The Massachusetts Highway Commission standard cross-section for macadam construction was 150 mm thick as reported by Gillette in 1906. This thickness was also used on New York state roads at about that time.

Figure 4. Comparison of Pavement Structures - Roman to Macadam Designs

Up to the early 1900s, the design emphasis was placed on the use of fixed standards occasionally modified for local soil conditions. Further, the need for more durable pavements was mandated by the changing vehicle fleet. The following partial quote by L. W. Page, Director of U. S. Office of Public Roads (contained in a 1907 report [Judson, 1908]) illustrates the problem: "...The existence of our macadam roads depends upon the retention of the road-dust formed by the wearing of the surface. But the action of rubber-tire motor-cars moving at high speed soon strips the macadam road of all fine material, the result being that the road soon disintegrates..."
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Early Bituminous Pavement

[edit]

Tar Macadam
It appears that the first tar macadam pavement was placed outside of Nottingham (Lincoln Road) in 1848 [Collins and Hart, 1936; Hubbard, 1910]. At that time, such pavements were considered suitable only for light traffic (not for urban streets). Coal tar (the binder) had been available in the U.K. from about 1800 as a residue from coal-gas lighting. Possibly this was one of the earliest efforts to recycle waste materials into a pavement! Soon after the Nottingham project, tar macadam projects were built in Paris (1854) and Knoxville, Tennessee (1866) [Hubbard, 1910]. In 1871 in Washington, D.C., a "tar concrete" was extensively used. Sulfuric acid was used as a hardening agent and various materials such as sawdust, ashes, etc. were used in the mixture [Hubbard, 1910]. Over a seven-year period,

630,000 m2 were placed. In part, due to lack of attention in specifying the tar, most of these streets failed within a few years of construction. This resulted in tar being discredited, thereby boosting the asphalt industry [Hubbard, 1910]. However, some of these tar-bound surface courses in Washington, D.C., survived substantially longer, about 30 years. For these mixes, the tar binder constituted about 6 percent by weight of the total mix (air voids of about 17 percent). Further, the aggregate was crushed with about 20 percent passing the No. 10 sieve. The wearing course was about 50 mm thick. As a side note, the term "Tarmac" was a proprietary product in the U.K. in the early 1900s [Hubbard, 1910]. Actually it was a plant mixed material, but was applied to the road surface "cold." Tarmac consisted of crushed blast furnace slag coated with tar, pitch, portland cement and a resin.
[edit]

Sheet Asphalt
Sheet asphalt placed on a concrete base (foundation) became popular during the mid-1800s with the first such pavement of this type being built in Paris in 1858. The first such pavement placed in the U.S. was in Newark, New Jersey, in 1870. Baker [1903] describes this pavement system as (1) a wearing course 40 to 50 mm thick composed of asphalt cement and sand, (2) a binder course (about 40 mm thick) composed of broken stone and asphalt cement, and finally, (3) a base layer of hydraulic cement concrete or pavement rubble (old granite blocks, bricks, etc.). Generally, the concrete layer was 100 mm thick for "light" traffic and 150 mm thick for "heavy" traffic [Baker, 1903]. The final thickness was based on the weight of the traffic, the strength of the concrete and the soil support.
[edit]

Bitulithic Pavements
In 1901 and 1903, Frederick J. Warren was issued patents for the early "hot mix" paving materials. A typical mix contained about 6 percent "bituminous cement" and graded aggregate proportioned for low air voids. Essentially, the maximum aggregate size was 75 mm ranging down to dust. The concept was to produce a mix which could use a more "fluid" binder than used for sheet asphalt. This material became known as "Bitulithic." More specifically, Warren was issued eight U.S. patents in 1903 which were:
y y y y y y y

Patent 727,505 Pavement Patent 727,506 Asphaltum and its Manufacture Patent 727,507 Asphalt Composition and its Manufacture Patent 727,508 Pavement Patent 727,509 Method of Constructing and Laying Street Pavements or Roadways Patent 727,510 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway Patent 727,511 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway

Patent 727,512 Renewal of Old Street

Pavements

All of these patents were filed between May 16, 1901, and April 14, 1902. A review of the associated patent claims reveals that Warren, in effect, patented asphalt concrete, the asphalt binder, the construction of asphalt concrete surfaced streets and roads, and the overlayment of "old" streets. It seems that he covered "all the bases" with these patents. Some might argue that Patent 727,504 issued to Edward Walker of Warren, Pennsylvania, was actually just as important the ice cream freezer! Warren's actual patent claim for 727,505 follows [U.S. Patent Office, 1903]: "A street-pavement mixture composed of mineral ingredients ranging in grades from three inches down to impalpable powder, from fifty to eight per cent, of such mineral ingredients lying between one-fourth inch and three inches in diameter, in combination with a bituminous binder." In 1910 in Topeka, Kansas, a court ruling stated that asphalt concrete mixes containing 12.5 mm maximum size aggregate did not infringe on Warren's patent (727,505) [Steele, 1986]. Thus, asphalt concrete mixes thereafter were more oriented to the smaller maximum aggregate sizes. (A "fine aggregate" or "modified Topeka asphaltic concrete" is mentioned in a 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1985]. The mixture consisted of 30 percent graded crushed rock or gravel (all passing 12.5 mm sieve, about 58 to 62 percent sand (material passing 2.0 mm and retained on 75 m), 8 to 12 percent filler (material passing 75 m sieve). This mixture required 7.5 to 9.5 percent asphalt cement.) Warrenite-Bitulithic was invented in 1910 by a retired employee of Warren Brothers. It consisted of a thin, approximately 25 mm thick layer of sheet asphalt placed on top of the hot, uncompactedBitulithic (Crawford [Crawford]). The advantage of this system is that the large aggregate of the Bitulithic mixes were not exposed directly to heavy, steel rimmed wheels which cracked the aggregate, eventually resulting in mix degradation. By 1920, Warren's original patents had expired in the U.S. [Oglesby, 1962].
[edit]

U.S. West Coast

A Standard Oil Co. of California publication [1985] noted that the first asphalt concrete pavement on the West Coast was placed in 1894. Further between 1914 and 1926, 95 percent of such pavements were 125 mm or less in total thickness (75 to 87.5 mm of asphalt base and 37.5 to 50 mm of asphalt concrete surfacing). In 1921 for the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona, approximately 770 lane-kilometers (3.6 m lanes) of asphalt concrete pavement were constructed. By 1925, the annual constructed lane-kilometers had increased to 1530. A interesting quote from the 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [1985] seems to be repeated quite often today:

"These pavements are today [1926] giving excellent service notwithstanding the fact that these pavements were not originally designed for the severe conditions imposed by the heavy and fast modern motor traffic."
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City of Seattle
In the 1910 City of Seattle Standard Specifications, it was stated that an "asphalt pavement shall consist of:
y y y

Wearing course 50 mm thick, Binder course 25 mm thick, and Concrete base.

Further, the asphalt cement in the asphalt paving mixture "shall be a solid, natural bitumen obtained from some natural deposit that has been in use in the paving industry for at least five (5) years." By 1919, the Seattle Standard Plans and Specifications contained the same definition for asphalt pavement (AC over PCC) but the asphalt binder could be "either a solid natural bitumen or a California oil asphalt that has been in use in the paving industry for at least five (5) years."
[edit]

Early Asphalt Cements

Trinidad Lake asphalt.

It should be noted at this point that an early source of asphalt binder in the U.S. was from Trinidad (near the coast of Venezuela). Trinidad supplied about 90 percent of all asphalt (worldwide) from 1875 to 1900 [Baker, 1903]. The asphalt was produced from a "lake" with a surface area of 465,000 m2 (46.5 ha or 115 acres) and a depth of about 24 m. It was estimated by Tillson in 1900 that this "lake" contained about 8,000,000 metric tons of "asphalt" (compare this against 1990 consumption in Europe and the U.S. of approximately 40,000 000 metric tons of asphalt binder). This asphalt, once free of water, was too "hard" to use in paving [Krchma and Gagle, 1974]. In fact, Trinidad lake asphalt, when loaded bulk into a ship, would fuse to the point that removal required chopping. It appears that the earliest use of asphalt binder in the U.S. was about 1874 for a project built in Washington, D.C. This binder was a combination of Trinidad lake asphalt and a flux oil distilled from crude oil. Without question, these early asphalt binders were quite variable making structural design somewhat challenging. By the 1880s, asphalt binders were regularly produced in California and by 1902 in Texas as well. It was not until 1907 that crude oil-based asphalt surpassed "natural" asphalt production [Krchma and Gagle, 1974].

An early Standard Oil Co. of California asphalt cement specification contained four original penetration ranges (at 25 C) of 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70. Thus, it appears that some of the early asphalt cements were a bit "harder" than generally used today.

History of Asphalt
Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the beloved Little House on the Prairie, tells of her first encounter with an asphalt pavement. She was on a wagon journey with her parents in 1894 that took them through Topeka. "In the very midst of the city, the ground was covered by some dark stuff that silenced all the wheels and muffled the sound of hoofs. It was like tar, but Papa was sure it was not tar, and it was something like rubber, but it could not be rubber because rubber cost too much. We saw ladies all in silks and carrying ruffled parasols, walking with their escorts across the street. Their heels dented the street, and while we watched, these dents slowly filled up and smoothed themselves out. It was as if that stuff were alive. It was like magic." Today, this dark, resilient material covers more than 94 percent of the paved roads in the United States; its the popular choice for driveways, parking lots, airport runways, racetracks, tennis courts, and other applications where a smooth, durable driving surface is required. Called at various times Hot Mix Asphalt, blacktop, tarmac, macadam, plant mix, asphalt concrete, or bituminous concrete, asphalt pavements have played an important role in changing the landscape and the history of the U.S. since the late 19th century. But the story of asphalt begins thousands of years before the founding of the United States. Asphalt occurs naturally in both asphalt lakes and in rock asphalt (a mixture of sand, limestone, and asphalt). The first recorded use of asphalt as a road building material was in Babylon around 625 B.C., in the reign of King Naboppolassar. In A Century of Progress: The History of Hot Mix Asphalt, published by National Asphalt Pavement Association in 1992, author Hugh Gillespie notes that an inscription on a brick records the paving of Procession Street in Babylon, which led from his palace to the north wall of

the city, with asphalt and burned brick. We know that the ancient Greeks were familiar with asphalt and its properties. The word asphalt comes from the Greek asphaltos, meaning secure. The Romans changed the word to asphaltus, and used the substance to seal their baths, reservoirs, and aqueducts. Many centuries later, Europeans exploring the New World discovered natural deposits of asphalt. Writing in 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh described a plain (or lake) of asphalt on the Island of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela. He used this asphalt for re-caulking his ships.

Laying the Foundation for Asphalt Roads

Despite these early uses of asphalt, several hundred years passed before European or American builders tried it as a paving material. What they needed first was a good method of road building. Englishman John Metcalf, born in 1717, built 180 miles of Yorkshire roads. He insisted on good drainage, requiring a foundation of large stones covered with excavated road material to raise the roadbed, followed by a layer of gravel. Thomas Telford built more than 900 miles of roads in Scotland during the years 1803-1821. He perfected the method of building roads with broken stones, laid to a depth according to the weight and volume of traffic it would have to carry, Gillespie writes. Telfords contemporary, John Loudon McAdam, taught himself engineering after being appointed a trustee of a Scottish turnpike. McAdam observed that it was the native soil that supports the weight of traffic, and that while it is preserved in a dry state, it will carry any weight without sinking. To construct his roads, McAdam used broken stone which shall unite by its own angles so as to form a hard surface. Later, to reduce dust and maintenance, builders used hot tar to bond the broken stones together, producing tarmacadam pavements.

Asphalt Roads Come to America

Coal tar, which is no longer used in asphalt pavement, was the binder in the first bituminous mixtures produced in the United States. These mixes were used for sidewalks, crosswalks, and even pavements starting in the late 1860s. In 1870, a Belgian chemist named Edmund J. DeSmedt laid the first true asphalt pavement in this country, a sand mix in front of the City Hall in Newark, New .Jersey. DeSmedts design was patterned after a natural asphalt pavement placed on a French highway in 1852. DeSmedt went on to pave Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, a project that included 54,000 sq. yds. paved with sheet asphalt from Trinidad Lake Asphalt. The durability of this pavement proved that the quality of the asphalt found in the Americas was as good as that imported from Europe.

Patented Roadways
Builders, quick to see the advantages of asphalt, tried to stake out claims to the material. Looking back from todays marketplace, where Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) is compared and classified only by its technical qualifications, it is difficult to comprehend that until 70 years ago, competing proprietary brands of HMA were peddled, touted, and huckstered with all the enthusiasm that now is used to advertise soft drinks, writes Gillespie. The first such patent was filed in 1871 by Nathan B. Abbott of Brooklyn, New York. In 1900, Frederick J. Warren filed a patent for Bitulithic pavement, a mixture of bitumen and aggregate; despite vigorous efforts by the Warren Brothers Company to defend its patent (and the name of the material), bitulithic was often used to describe any asphalt pavement. Other trade names for asphalt mixes included Wilite, Romanite, National Pavement, Imperial, Indurite, and Macasphalt. Many of these patented mixes were successful and technically innovative. The fierce competition among asphalt producers, however, allowed cities to require more stringent requirements for their asphalt roadways. In 1896, for example, New York City adopted asphalt paving in place of brick, granite, and wood block. But it also required 15-year warranties on workmanship and materials. The long-term warranties, which did not recognize pavement failures caused by factors beyond the asphalt contractors control, bankrupted many builders. The result was fewer and higher bids for asphalt pavements. The patents for Bitulithic pavement expired in 1920, and subsequent improvements in pavements by Federal and state engineers forced most of the remaining patented pavements from the market.

Changing Techniques in Production and Construction

Until about 1900, almost all asphalt used in the U.S came from the natural sources of Lake Trinidad and Bermudez Lake in Venezuela. Refined petroleum asphalts, used initially as an additive to soften the natural asphalt for handling and placing, made an appearance in the mid1870s and slowly gained acceptance. By 1907, production of refined asphalt had outstripped the use of natural asphalt. Meanwhile, as the automobile grew in popularity, local and state governments were besieged by requests for more and better roads. This demand led to innovations in both the production and laying of asphalt. Roadway testing gradually became an accepted practice thanks to the efforts of Logan Waller Page, who had studied the procedures in France. The earliest HMA production units consisted of shallow iron trays heated over open coal fires. The operator dried the aggregate on the tray, poured hot asphalt on top, and stirred the mixture by hand. The quality of the mix usually depended on the skill and experience of the operator. The first mechanical mixers were used in Paris in 1854, but they were crude and required four hours to produce just one batch of asphalt.

The Cummer Company opened the first central hot mix production facilities in the U.S. in 1870; by the end of the century, builders on both sides of the Atlantic were producing mixers and dryers in a variety of forms. While some asphalt producers tried to develop portable machines, and others turned to units mounted on railroad cars, most production facilities were costly and cumbersome, limiting the areas in which HMA was readily available. The first asphalt facility to contain virtually all the basic components of those of today was built in 1901 by Warren Brothers in East Cambridge, Mass. (It lacked only a cold feed and pollution control equipment.) The first drum mixers and drum dryer-mixers, which came into use around 1910, were Portland cement concrete mixers that were adapted for use with HMA. Mechanization took another step forward in the 1920s with the improvement of cold feed systems for portable and semi-portable systems. Vibrating screens and pressure injection systems were added in the 1930s. Construction methods improved at an even faster pace. The earliest items of equipment for laying asphalt could be easily transported in one hand, Gillespie notes. Brooms, lutes, squeegees and tampers were used in what was a highly labor-intensive process. Only after the asphalt was dumped, spread, and smoothed by hand did the relatively sophisticated horse-drawn roller, and later the steam roller, move in to complete the job. Builders in the early 1920s used modified portland cement concrete mechanical spreaders for the first machine-laid asphalt. Later, they added tailgate spreaders and concrete strike-off screeds. In the 1930s, Sheldon G. Hayes was the first to use a Barber-Greene finisher, which consisted of a tractor unit and a screed unit with a vertical tamping bar. Barber-Greene introduced the floating screed a few years later, and its design dominated the market until the patent expired in 1955. Production facilities could not at first keep up with the additional demand for HMA that resulted from paving improvements, but the gap was finally closed around 1930. J.S. Helm, President of the Asphalt Institute, noted in 1939 that Asphalt is an essential material in nearly every form of highway construction and maintenance. In the four years from 1934 to 1937, asphalt entered into the construction of more than four-fifths of the mileage of highways completed in those years under state highway direction.

Building Boom
During World War II, asphalt technology improved at a great pace, spurred in part by the need of military aircraft for surfaces that could stand up to heavier loads. After the war ended, and families moved to the suburbs, road building became a huge industry. In 1956, Congress passed the State Highway Act, allotting $51 billion to the states for road construction. Contractors needed bigger and better equipment. Pavers added electronic leveling controls in the 1950s, and automated screed controls in the early 1960s. Extra-wide finishers, capable of paving two lanes at once, made their debut in 1968.

Two recent innovations also helped increase paver productivity. Pickup machines have allowed bottom-dump trailers to windrow the material in advance of the paver so it can operate continuously. The Material Transfer Vehicle (MTV), introduced in 1987, receives mix from trucks and feeds it to the paver as required. Until the mid-1950s, most HMA pavements were compacted with a combination of a light tandem roller and a heavy three-wheel roller. Later, the use of pneumatic-tire rollers became more common. The most commonly used rollers today are vibratory steel-wheel rollers.

Better Plants
The asphalt plants of the early '50s might have included a dryer, a tower with a screed, and a mixer. They were dirty, dusty operations. But by the mid-'60s, with air pollution a serious concern across the country, many had added wet scrubbers, and a few had baghouses. The other major change in the mid to late '60s was the addition of surge bins and storage bins, says NAPA member John Spangler, chairman of Milestone Contractors, L.P., Indiana. Prior to that, everything was loaded right from the plant into the truck. Then somebody got the idea that we could put mix in bins for short periods of time, so we had surge capacity. The technology grew to where we could store mix for three or four days. Concern for the environment has encouraged the construction of better plants. When I first started, state-of-the-art was a batch plant that was dirty, that you could usually see three miles away, notes NAPA member Don Brock, chairman of Astec Industries, Tennessee. Weve gradually progressed from there to cleaning them up with wet washers and baghouses to being invisible today. Today, we need to build a plant that you cant see, you cant hear, and you cant smell.

Trends in Quality Improvement

In the 1950s, state and federal highway engineers controlled almost every aspect of road building, from the mining of aggregates to the mixing of asphalt to its placement on the roadway. Today, however, many jurisdictions have taken a new partnering approach that allows the contractor to take more responsibility (and risk) for the finished roadway. Pavement warranties are also becoming more common. The trend toward continuous improvement has also allowed the industry to embrace recycling. Recycling was common in the early 20th century, but the practice fell out of use as new asphalt refineries were built, increasing supplies and dropping prices. The energy crisis of the 1970s, however, demonstrated the need for conservation of natural resources; since that time, both base and surface courses have incorporated an increasing amount of recycled asphalt in their mixes. Over 70 million metric tons of asphalt paving material is recycled each year. Today, asphalt pavement is America's most recycled material.

The industry itself has led the drive for innovation and quality in design and construction of asphalt roadways. The National Bituminous Concrete Association (the first name of NAPA; the organization changed its name to National Asphalt Pavement Association in 1965) was established in 1955. One of the first activities undertaken by the fledgling organization was a Quality Improvement Program, which sponsored asphalt testing at universities and private testing labs, then shared the results with members. In 1986, NAPA established the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University, Alabama, providing a centralized, systematic approach to asphalt research. NCAT recently opened a new research center and test track and is now the world's leading institution for asphalt pavement research.

New developments
Over the last 30 years, the versatility of asphalt has led to its increased use in other applications. HMA airport runways are finding increased acceptance in the United States, since they provide passengers more comfortable takeoffs and landings, dramatically cut back on runway maintenance, and allow for much faster construction time. Pavements constructed of highdurability HMA mixes are used increasingly for freight yards, where they stand up to heavy static loads. HMA is also used worldwide as a practical solution to water storage, flood control, erosion, and conservation problems. Asphalt has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and used successfully as a primary liner for both sanitary and hazardous-waste landfills. It is also used to line drinking water reservoirs and fish hatcheries in California and Washington. Meanwhile, the industry continues to benefit from improvements in design and production. Since the mid-1980s, the industry has developed advanced pavement materials including Open Graded Friction Course (OGFC), Superpave, and Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA), also called gapgraded Superpave. Engineering control systems placed on asphalt pavers beginning in 1997 have improved conditions for workers at the paving site. Pavements being built today can be engineered to meet a variety of needs for less noise, greater durability, enhanced skid resistance, reduced splash and spray in rainy weather, and a smoother ride than ever before. The asphalt street laid 130 years ago in Newark bore little resemblance to todays asphalt superhighways. But with the constant improvements in production and equipment, and with the continued emphasis on quality, we, too, may look back before too many years have passed and realize how much progress we have made in increasing the durability, safety, and smoothness of asphalt roadways.

Advantages of Asphalt
The durable, resilient, and low-maintenance qualities of asphalt make it a preference over other surfaces every time. Suited to various weather conditions, asphalt can add immediate value to your property while enhancing its aesthetic appeal. Because asphalt is fully recyclable its environmentally friendly and economical. Less mud and dirt will be tracked into homes and buildings, while dust from gravel and dirt surfaces will be non-existent with asphalt. And snow removal is made much easier. With the speed and ease of installation and its quick-drying nature, asphalt is your best choice.

The Benefits of Asphalt Paving

Asphalt Paving Introduction | Benefits | Colors | Patterns

Asphalt Paving Advantages There are four main advantages of using asphalt for paving.
1. 2. 3. 4. Economical Durable Safe Recyclable

The Economical Advantages of Asphalt Paving

Asphalt is a low-cost building material. It is less expensive, not just in actual cost, but also in terms of the time it takes to complete construction.

Asphalt is so quick and easy to use that it saves the public, government and contractors time, and time is money!
Asphalt dries so fast that roads and highways will not be blocked or held up for very long.

Durability of Asphalt Paving

Asphalt is a reliable weather resistant material and can be designed for low and high traffic conditions. It can withstand the harshest of weathers and the heaviest of semi-trailers. Asphalt can also be designed to fit a specific purpose!

Asphalt Paving Safety

Asphalts safety feature is related to its smooth-like finish. It offers drivers skid resistance, reduced splash back and better visual distinction between road markings. Asphalt also helps keep roads free from ice and snow.

Recycling
Asphalt is a recyclable material, it can be used over and over, and its life-cycle never ends. Asphalt roads can be dug up and then re-used again. This is what makes asphalt such a popular, modern day material. When we use it we are preserving our natural resources, by reusing the same material over again. This also helps reduce our waste dilemma, it means less material is being turned into waste, and hence, landfill! Asphalt also saves the environment since it will not run into our waterways when it is spilt, as asphalt turns into solid mass quite quickly.

Maintenance
Asphalt is quick and easy to repair. By maintaining cracks and resealing roads, driveways and highways regularly, major degradation can be delayed.
Even when major degradation does occur, asphalt can be re-laid

ABOUT ASPHALT PAVING AND ITS COLOR SELECTIONS Asphalt Paving is mainly seen on suburban streets, highways, car parks, driveways, and bike trails. Asphalt is a durable, weather resistant material and is used mainly on roads, car parks, and path ways. It is also a cost effective material, and can be fixed quite easily if damaged. Keep in mind that poor maintenance and heavy traffic will require the are to be removed and replaced. This is a simple process which involves the affected area to be removed, and the asphalt recycled to be reused again. Asphalt Paving is generally found to be black and grey in color. However, several colors can be used to change the appearance of plain old boring, black and grey. Even your existing Asphalt paved driveway can be rejuvenated with many types of patterns and colors. Color Options Like stamped concrete, Asphalt Paving can be produced in any type of color. Asphalt is primarily made up of bitumen, sand, and rocks. This mixture usually produces a dark color. So there are 2 different types of machines that can be used to add color. Here is a list of some color suggestions for Asphalt Paving:
y y y y y y y y

Chocolate Brown Smokey Grey Brown Brick Pale Terracotta Slate Green Pure White Red Rose Sandy Sand

Color Selection Asphalt Paving can be used around your home. The costs involved are not anything like using brick pavers or stamped concrete. So, when selecting a color, for your driveway or sidewalk, remember that it is the most focal point when entering your property, so chooses a color that will compliment: 1. The color of your home. 2. The surrounding gardens. 3. The type of surroundings you live in.

4. Any existing colored walkways, example carport etc. Color Maintenance Asphalt Pavement colors can wear out quite rapidly. The wearing out is usually caused by heavy foot traffic, poor maintenance, heavy road traffic, and bicycles. This is where high maintenance may be required. Maintaining the colored area is not a costly exercise and can be done quite simply. It consists of the worn out colored area being removed and then being replaced with hot mix asphalt and the color desired.

Advantages of Asphalt Paving

Posted onMay 4, 2011bysmipaving

There are four main advantages of using asphalt for paving:

- Economical - Durable - Safe - Recyclable The Economical Advantages of Asphalt Paving Asphalt is a low-cost building material. It is less expensive, not just in actual cost, but also in terms of the time it takes to complete construction. Asphalt cures quickly, therfore driveways, parking lots and roads will not be blocked or out of use for long. Durability of Asphalt Paving Asphalt is a reliable weather resistant material and can be designed for low and high traffic conditions. It can withstand the harshest of weathers and the heaviest of semi-trailers. Asphalt can also be designed to fit a specific purpose! Asphalt Paving Safety Asphalts safety feature is related to its smooth-like finish. It offers drivers skid resistance, reduced splash back and better visual distinction between road markings. Asphalt also helps keep paved areas free from ice and snow. Recycling Asphalt is a recyclable material, it can be used over and over, and its life-cycle never ends. Asphalt roads can be dug up and then re-used again. This is what makes asphalt such a popular, modern day material. When we use it we are preserving our natural resources, by reusing the same material over again. Asphalt also saves the environment since it will not run into our waterways if spilled, because asphalt turns into solid mass quite quickly. Maintenance Asphalt is quick and easy to repair. By maintaining cracks and resealing roads, driveways and highways regularly, major degradation can be delayed. Even when major degradation does occur, asphalt can be repaired or patched affordably.

Benefits of Asphalt Sealing

By Duane Bradley
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Asphalt is certainly an affordable and practical choice if you're looking for a material that can be used in paving driveways, parking lots or even sidewalks. Undeniably, there are numerous benefits of asphalt sealing compared to concrete. This black, cement-like substance is mostly derived from crude petroleum and is used extensively in maintaining pavements, but it has significant uses in other industrial areas as well. Asphalt sealing is almost always used for street paving. Not surprisingly, it is used to surface about 90 percent of paved roads, along with driveways too. After several years, water may get into the surface of the pavement or the driveway and break it apart. Thus seal coat will restore the smooth surface and considerably extending the life of your driveway. One of the great advantages of asphalt is that it lasts for a long time. It may take years at a time before you need to apply another sealer. Perhaps one of its best benefits is that it's easy to use to construct a good road surface. If you're looking into saving some money, then you can definitely pave your own driveway. Applying seal coats is relatively easy and wouldn't take too much time. And if done properly, you'll surely be amazed with the results. Materials can be purchased from a home improvement store and you can start repairing that cracked, pitted or rutted driveway in just a matter of time. Another benefit is that asphalt is probably the best sealing agent as it doesn't wear off quickly. As it dries, it turns into a hard, shiny surface that is very efficient in sealing the pavement from rain or snow. The sealer is a bonding agent that tends to be stay for years. A lot of people suppose that concrete will do better than asphalt sealing but this is totally wrong. It wont be as cost effective and isn't easy to apply too. Without a doubt, there are a lot of things to remember when you want to repair or repave your driveway. Several choices are also available so you have to know which one works best for you. But if you're intensely concerned with affordability, usability and ease; you can never go wrong if you'll choose asphalt sealing. Just bear in mind these benefits of asphalt sealing and you can be assured of the best possible result and getting the best value for your money. Duane Bradley is the owner of Denver Asphalt Co. -Bradley Asphalt Services Inc. and has been in the asphalt repair and installation business for a quite number of years. You can check out his blog for more information about asphalt application and paving needs. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Duane_Bradley

Benefits of Asphalt 1. Cost Effective - not only does asphalt concrete pavement have the lowest initial cost when compared to other alternative pavement products, but its life cycle costs (when measured over the entire life of the pavement) are also lower than other competitive pavement products. 2. Constructibility/Speed of Construction - asphalt concrete pavements constructed during the day are normally ready to have traffic that same day. This allows better access to adjacent businesses and improved traffic flow through and around the projects reducing user delay while continuing to construct the project. 3. Smooth - asphalt concrete pavements are the smoothest pavements placed in the country today. 4. Versatile - asphalt concrete pavements can be tailored to the specific application during the design phase of the project allowing for the unique characteristics of each project. Desgin lives from 5 years to in excess of 30 years can be accomodated easily. For cost sensitive projects staged construction can be a viable design alternative with asphalt concrete pavements as a way to accomodate increased traffic flow while remaining sensitive to the structural integrity of the pavement. 5. Quiet - It is a proven fact that asphalt concrete pavements are among the quietest in the world. Special asphalt mixes such as open graded friction courses, stone mastic aggregate mixes and rubberized asphalt consistently measure the lowest noise of all pavement types. 6. Safe - Together with the contrast of color between the white lines and the black pavement and the use of open graded surface course mixes that accelerate draindown and minimize splash and spray asphalt pavements prove to be the safest pavement alternative. 7. Long Lasting - With the advent of new design strategies, improved characterization of material performance and improved construction techniques, asphalt concrete pavements can be designed for over 40 year lives. Studies are currently underway to demonstrate that properly maintained, longer life asphalt pavements can last indefinitely (some would say perpetually). 8. Recycleable - Asphalt concrete pavements are 100% recycleable. While we still do not take full advantage of the potential recycleability of asphalt pavements, asphalt is the most recycled material in the country.

The Benefits of Recycled Asphalt

Asphalt is a common road paving material used in the construction industry. Asphalt is a sticky substance derived from petroleum after the crude oil has been turned into fuels. It has waterproofing and binding properties that make it an ideal road and aircraft runway material. When asphalt road needs to be replaced, the old material can be reused for new construction. This requires less new material, is cost-effective and creates a surface that performs as well as new material.

Environmental Benefits

Asphalt is derived from the remnants of oil and mixed with sand and stone in order to created a strong material for paving. Oil is a finite resource and often difficult and dangerous to extract. Recycling old asphalt reduces the amount of new oil byproduct needed and may reduce dependence on foreign oil. Recycling also saves on construction material waste, as the recycled material is not sent to a landfill. Energy savings are realized through less processing of virgin materials, on-site recycling capabilities and less transportation of new materials to the site.

Economic Benefits

As asphalt is derived from petroleum, its cost is susceptible to fluctuating prices in the market. Old asphalt is readily available to be pulled up or processed on site. Up to 25 percent of asphalt material in some states is made up of recycled asphalt, and the Federal Highway Administration has research projects testing mixes of up to 50 percent. The Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association reports that 90 million tons of asphalt are recycled annually, saving taxpayers $300 million each year. Contractors save by reducing energy, materials and waste-hauling costs. Lower quality asphalt can be used as a substitute for embankment, fill or road base material.

Engineering Benefits

Recycled asphalt material can provide engineering benefits for contractors and government agencies involved in road maintenance. Recycled asphalt can be added into both "hot mix" (heated asphalt applications) and "cold mix" (cooler temperature asphalt processing and application). The Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association says that up to 25 percent recycled asphalt is commonly added to pavement mixes that have the same quality and sometimes superior performance to asphalt made from purely virgin materials. Specialized construction equipment can process asphalt on site, saving time and transportation costs that come with taking asphalt to be recycled elsewhere. Reuse of asphalt for fill, base or embankment can save engineers and contractors time, money and materials, allowing for more efficient road maintenance projects.

Five Disadvantages of Asphalt Driveways

Asphalt and concrete are two of the most popular materials that are used for paving driveways. However, asphalt driveways have numerous disadvantages when compared to concrete driveways. Some of these disadvantages include strength, maintenance, design, and durability. This article will discuss some of the disadvantages of asphalt driveways when compared to the concrete variety. Strength One of the first disadvantages of asphalt driveways is their strength. You should never allow heavy machinery on your driveway if it is made from asphalt. Asphalt driveways are very susceptible to damage from heavy machinery. Concrete driveways are not as susceptible to this type of damage.

Heat Another disadvantage of asphalt driveways deals with heat. If you live in a hot climate, you should think twice about having a driveway that is made from asphalt. Asphalt driveways will become very soft when exposed to hot temperatures. This softness will make the driveway very susceptible to the formation of ruts. Maintenance One of the next disadvantages of asphalt driveways is the amount of maintenance required for them. They require much more maintenance than concrete driveways. You will need to have asphalt driveways sealed every three years or so. Sealing takes a lot of effort and time to do properly. Also, you won't be able to park on the driveway with your car for two or three days after sealing it. Design Another disadvantage of asphalt driveways is their design. Concrete can come in many different colors. You can also apply dye to the mix or staining directly to the concrete if you want new colors. Asphalt driveways don't have as many design options as the concrete variety. Durability One of the final disadvantages of asphalt driveways is their durability. Concrete driveways can last more than 30 years. Most asphalt driveways will only last approximately 15 years. Some may not even last more than 10 years before they need to be replaced. These are some of the disadvantages of asphalt driveways when compared to concrete driveways. Asphalt is not a good material to use if you live in a hot climate, as the driveway will become very soft when exposed to hot temperatures. Asphalt driveways also require much more maintenance than those that are made from concrete. If you want an array of design options, then you will likely need to have your driveway paved with concrete as the asphalt variety don't have many design options.

The Disadvantages of Asphalt

If you have driven down the street, you have most likely done so on asphalt pavement. It is used to pave roads, freeways, jogging pathways, parking lots and even driveways. Though asphalt is relatively cheap in comparison to concrete or other mediums, it has its disadvantages that should be considered.

1. Care and Sealing

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Asphalt pavement requires more maintenance than concrete, according to the website Home Addition Plus. Every three to five years, asphalt pavement must be resealed to prevent cracking. Sealers must be applied and then the surface left alone for two to three days before cars can drive on the surface. Resealing the asphalt surface every three to five years will cost money and time.

Cracks
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When asphalt is not laid properly, it is prone to cracks and pitting. Issues such as uneven pavement surfaces, inadequate mixing and laying pavement over previous cracks are all reasons cracks will occur, according to a study from the University of Florida.

Construction
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In order for traditional asphalt to be used, it must first be heated to 250 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the U.S. Forest Service. At these temperatures asphalt is fluid and will bond with the surface it is applied to. Immediately after asphalt is poured it must be covered with sand or aggregate in order for it to stick properly. Substantial training of installers is required.

Environmental Issues
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Asphalt is created from petroleum. In this process, hydrocarbons are released, which in turn lead to pollution. The most commonly used asphalt for roadways and parking lots is known as coal tar. Cutback asphalts are used to create asphalt cements, which can also be used in parking lots and driveways. Cutback asphalts emit a higher amount of hydrocarbons than emulsion asphalts.

Equipment
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Asphalt, no matter the type used, requires heavy equipment to install. Distributor trucks, sand spreaders, paving equipment and graders are all needed in order to lay asphalt surfaces properly and smoothly. This type of equipment can be rented in small-scale form for a driveway project, but it is costly. Large-scale projects require heavier equipment, which can be cost-prohibitive.

Properties of asphalt.Hot asphalt, asphalt in cold, asphalt prefabricated. Acrylic Base water, bases reliable. Al-Koat introduces the latest in technology for waterproofing: TPO. It surpasses in everything to any other waterproof one, because it reunites in only a product, the best attributes of the APP and the SBS. Al-Koat is in the market a new technology that exceeds the physical properties waterproof asphalts

modified used in the conventional ones of today. TPO represents a technological revolution, innovating the chemical composition of the used materials, marking the beginning of a new era of waterproof products of high performance. The compound TPO is the result of an extensive investigation and development. The product has distilled asphalt base selected, modified with complex mixtures of thermoplastic poliolefinas and specific elastomers, forming these the "skeleton" or structure of the compound, that is a cohesive with excellent impermeable properties and releases durability. PROPERTIES.High compatibility between the polymeric asphalts and components.Flexibility to low temperatures exceeding the one a compound SBS of high quality. Superior resistance to the intemperismo that the one of a compound APP of high quality. Durability that exceeds any previous modified asphalt formulation.ADVANTAGES. The waterproof TPO exceptionally work in an ample rank of temperatures, doing advantageous their use in all the variety of climatic regions, increasing the productivity of the contractor. The compound TPO dramatically increases the durability of the impermeable system. Products TPO such offer prefabricated waterproof attributes of the conventional ones for their application. Superior mechanical resistance (tension, punching and sharp effort), conferred by the high gramaje (250 grs./m2) of the polyester reinforcement no woven. Characteristics of the mixtures of asphalts. Asphalts are miscible among them in all the proportions. The penetration and the point of softening of a mixture of two asphalts can soon be considered using the attached tables uniting with an air line the points of the vertical scales offering to the penetration or point of softening of the degrees to be mixed and using the horizontal scale to read the proportions of the mixture or the required proportions. These graphs are extremely safe when asphalts that have the same conditions, like for example the same index of penetration are used or that are oxidized asphalts or asphalts of direct obtaining. Diluted asphalts. Asphalt can be mixed with an ample variety of fractions of distillation of petroleum for different applications. Light volatile fractions are used for diluted asphalts where a fast drying is required. Fractions as kerosene or oil gas is used where allow a prolonged masking time but. Heavy fractions are used where a permanent softening is required (these mixtures are virtually equal to very soft asphalts). Two general rules are applied for reliable with asphalts: When but "heavy" it is the fraction of reliable, better it will be the dissolution. When but "aromatic" it is the fraction of reliable, better it will be the dissolution. For oxidized degrees, reliable aromatic they must be used inexorably, in order to avoid some separation of phases. Asphalt mixtures and paraffin. The paraffin can be added to asphalt by two intentions: In order to reduce viscosity when this it warms up. In order to reduce the " stickseed" when this one cools off. Paraffin with a point of fusion of around 50-60 c is usually used, to concentrations of between 5-10c. The paraffin concentration does not have to exceed 20% to avoid the precipitation of asfaltenos. Other average ones to reduce the "superficial adhesion of asphalt are: To cover the surface with talc or others fine fillers to use hard asphalts but to incorporate a metallic salt organ like for example: 5% of resinato of manganese.

Asphalt
Often, asphalt is used as an abbreviation for asphalt concrete. The History Says In the ancient middle-east, natural asphalt deposits were used for mortar between the bricks and stones, ship caulk, and waterproofing. In Persian, asphalt is known as "mumiya." Some say that this may be the source for the English word "mummy." The Present Scenario Asphalt is hard to transport. It hardens unless kept very hot. For this reason, it is sometimes mixed with diesel oil or kerosene before shipping. At delivery point, these lighter materials are separated. This mixture is often called as bitumen feedstock, or BFS.

ASPHALT, also known as Asphaltum, is the most common variety of bitumen (also called mineral pitch). It is a compact, glassy, brittle, black or brown mineral. It is highly viscous liquid or semi-solid which is present in most crude petroleums and in some of the natural deposits. It breaks with a polished fracture, melts very easily giving a strong pitchy odor when heated, and leaves no ashes when pure asphalt is burnt. Asphalt is sometimes confused with tar, coal tar, or pitch because the appearance is similar and the substances may be used interchangeably in many industrial processes. Tar and pitch are obtained from the coal products that are chemically and physically different. Some other names of asphalt are road tar, road binder, petroleum pitch, petroleum asphalt, mineral pitch, and seal-coating material. Types of Asphalt There are two main types of asphalt. They are as follows: y Straight-run asphalt or asphalt cement - These are used for paving roads, airport runways, and packing lots. Since its nature is solid to semi-solid, it must first be cut with a solvent in order to bring it to a more liquid state. This process is known as Cut Back Asphalt. Highway workers mostly use straight run asphalt. Air-blown or oxidized asphalt - It has a high softening point and is primarily used in roofing, pipe covering, and in other similar situations.

Specifications Asphalt is separated from other components in crude oil like naptha, gasoline and diesel by the process called fractional distillation, generally under vacuum conditions. A better separation is achieved by further processing of the heavier fractions of the oil in deasphalting unit. Either propane or butane is used in a supercritical phase to dissolve the lighter molecules and then separate it. Any further processing is possible only by "blowing" the product, namely reacting it with oxygen. This process make the product more hard and more viscous. Uses of Asphalt

Asphalt is used for road paving, roofing tar, roofing felt, roll-roofing, shingles, pipe covering, waterproofing, floor tile, and many other products and processes. Occurrences of Asphalt The natural deposits of asphalt include the Lake Asphalts, Gilsonite, the Dead Sea in Israel, and Tar Sands. The Lake Asphalts was primarily from the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Bermudez Lake in Venezuela.