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Why pave more? ACE XP® delivers a tougher overlay ...
A 250-meter stretch of Mountain Highway in the District of North Vancouver was showing signs of fatigue cracking. The thin pavement endures an ever-increasing amount of traffic, but a solution was needed that would not require significant modifications to the existing road.
BA Blacktop paved a 65mm mill and replacement overlay consisting of 600 tons of ACE XP® Polymer Fiber reinforced surface asphalt. The reinforced mix increases the fatigue resistance of the pavement, equivalent to 80mm of unreinforced asphalt pavement.
The key to the strength of the reinforced pavement lies in the physical properties of ACE XP — wax-binded para-aramid polymer fibers.
Para-aramid polymer fibers provide outstanding strength, flexibility and abrasion tolerance.
To create ACE XP®, these high-tensile-strength fibers are bundled and coated with the wax to produce an asphalt additive that is simple to mix with any WMA or HMA in both drum and batch operations.
One of the most outstanding performance benefits of ACE XP® lies in its micro roots. These tendrils tenaciously anchor themselves into the bitumen of the asphalt, providing 400,000 psi tensile strength. The result is a three-dimensional reinforcement throughout the asphalt and a flexibility that resists rutting during hot summers and cracking through cold winters.
With ACE XP® in the asphalt mix, you get a tougher pavement that will stand up to harsh weather and traffic conditions, even if you pave it 65mm thick rather than 80mm. For more information on how Surface Tech products can make your pavement stronger and last longer, contact us.
ACE XP® versus Paving Fabrics — you owe it to ...
The advent of Surface Tech’s new ACE XP pavement overlay solution utilizes one of the strongest man-made fibers in existence — para aramid. ACE XP in a hot-mix, hot-laid overlay application can go head-to-head with typical fabric interlay applications in terms of cost. But in terms of performance, ACE XP comes out on top. It’s faster and easier to apply and more effective in reducing cracks.
A mix reinforced with ACE XP can be laid, worked, rolled and finished exactly the same as a regular mix with no special steps needed from the lay down crew. And as a bonus, ACE XP is fully recyclable. With paving fabrics, millings often go to the landfill. That makes ACE XP the sustainable choice for long-term pavement owners.
“We’ve had a lot of success with ACE XP in overlays, because once contractors use it, they love it,” said Michael Scardina, Regional Sales Director. “It’s a faster install, more crack resistant, and as a plant mix product, there’s no need for third party contractors so all the job profit stays in-house.”
ACE XP turns regular asphalt into a high-performance overlay, with the advantage of a faster and more consistent installation process. And since the overall cost of ACE XP competes well with the overall cost of installed paving fabrics, the only remaining question in your mind should be, “Why haven’t I tried it?”
For more information on ACE XP and other paving innovations from Surface Tech, contact us.
VA DOT moves Balanced Mix Design from lab to test ...
Virginia DOT has witnessed how the Balanced Mix Design (BMD) methodology can lead to better paving solutions in the laboratory, and now the agency is taking it to the streets with a new field-testing initiative. At the end of August, Colony Construction paved two sections of Route 903 in Mecklenburg County, VA (Richmond District) using VDOT’s new BMD approach for asphalt pavement design.
REARM HR, (formerly known as SMART RAP) Surface Tech’s new sustainable technology, was chosen to be evaluated alongside a control pavement. The technology has proven effective on VDOT’s required cracking and rutting performance under the BMD Initiative, while also increasing the use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) from 15% to 35%.
Two challenges were overcome with this mix design. First, the location of Colony Construction’s Plant — 50+ miles from the worksite — posed a compaction and temperature concern. Second, the available RAP or millings, sourced mostly from county road rehabilitation where the average roadway is repaved almost half as often as other VDOT roadways, left the resulting RAP binder considerably oxidized and hard.
Colony Construction’s RAP pile graded out at PG 110 (10), which made it mandatory to soften this RAP binder before it could be used in BMD, especially since the test called for adding more than 15% RAP to the mixture. A 35% RAP content was not envisioned when the project started in lab testing.
A 1,400-ton section of Route 903 utilized a single dose (4.2 oz. / Plant Mix Ton) of Surface Tech’s 38mm para-aramid polymer fiber product along with TUFFTREK 4007 (3.4% of total asphalt content) by Georgia Pacific Chemical, an engineered bio-oil. The REARM HR additives were mixed with the PG 58-28 Binder, in a 6.0% Asphalt Content with a 35% RAP mix.
The mix was produced in Colony Construction’s plant in Burkeville, VA, which is approximately an hour away from the paving location just north of the North Carolina border. Consequently, a warm mix additive was also used to ensure proper compaction after the long haul and cooler installation temperatures.
At the end of the second day, a 200-ton section was laid using a double dose (8.4 oz./ Plant Mix Ton) of Surface Tech’s para-aramid polymer fibers while holding steady the TUFFTREK 4007, the RAP percentage and the binder type and quantity at the previous dosage amounts.
TUFFTREK 4007 softened the virgin binder in the oxidized RAP, while the para-aramid polymer fibers provided reinforcement to improve both rutting and cracking resistance in the final mixture. Surface Tech supplied a new dosing pump to ensure accurate dosing of the TUFFTREK bio-oil, and the company also utilized its own MD3 dosing machine to feed the para-aramid polymer fibers into the mix. The project was completed in two days at a production speed between 150 to 175 tph.
“We were able to provide a better performing asphalt and increase the use of RAP at the same time because of our technology,” said Joe Dennis, Surface Tech’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Asphalt.
Early IDEAL CT testing at the plant revealed a 25% to 40% increase in the CT INDEX over the control pavement for the single dose and a 50% increase for the double dose.
“It was great to see RAP used as part of the BMD initiative,” said Travis Cable from Colony Construction. “Of course, the REARM HR technology allowed this important resource to be utilized in a much bigger way while not sacrificing performance — truly amazing.”.
“Virginia DOT was pleased to see a high RAP mix, and especially to see it work so beautifully,” said Dennis.
The agency is now interested in putting Surface Tech’s new ARMI™ product to work. ARMI™ is the company’s revolutionary reflective crack relief interlayer solution that vastly improves crack resistance. A pilot project is planned for the spring of 2021.
Dario Alvarez joins Surface Tech as Territory ...
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Dario Alvarez comes on board as the newest member of our territory management team. He brings 12 years of excellent sales and marketing experience in the construction industry and adds a new level of service and responsiveness to our customers in Texas.
Dario spent seven years in asphalt sales, working with polymer modified mixes and asphalt emulsions and five years marketing preformed thermoplastic pavement markings. Most recently, he worked as the licensee manager at Ingevity where he collaborated with partner licensees to promote the company’s Mastic Surface sealant.
His experience includes outreach to DOTs, municipal agencies and private contractors as well as on-site customer service. Dario has a keen understanding of the needs and expectations from a territory manager. He strives to deliver quick solutions to problems and to place the customer’s needs as the highest priority. We welcome him as a capable and motivated member of our team.
White paper concludes aramid fibers show superior ...
The City of San Diego Department Public Works released a white paper detailing the history of utilizing fibers to reinforce asphalt mixes. This well-researched and documented analysis traces the route the paving industry has taken since it began experimenting with fiber-reinforced asphalt concrete (FRAC) back in the 1980s.
Co-authored by Phil Blankenship, Blankenship Asphalt Tech and Training, and Brandon Milar, CalAPA Technical Director, the paper points out that a backlog of capital needs has forced the increased use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) to overcome higher asphalt binder prices over the past 10 years. The resulting pavements have tended to be more brittle for a variety of reasons, leading to early cracking and lowered useful life.
The paper states that “solutions to this dilemma are usually solved through polymer modification and coordination with asphalt binder terminals to supply alternate asphalt grades.” And, “we should not limit solutions to aggregate and asphalt binder-only combinations when many more options are available to improve our HMA directly at the plant.”
From here, the paper reviews a variety of HMA site solutions that have been tried and tested over the past 30 years. One can readily see the progression of improvements, and the paper concludes by stating that “numerous experimental studies have shown that adding synthetic polymer fibers to dense-graded mixes can improve the field performance and their mechanical performance, particularly with regard to rutting and fatigue resistance.”
At Surface Tech, we’ve succeeded in developing an aramid polymer fiber solution that vastly improves crack resistance in both pavement and interlayer applications. Aramid is a unique, man-made, high-strength polymer fiber boasting high tensile strengths over 400,000 psi (5x steel), a superior stress/strain relationship and decomposition temperatures of 350˚F. And because of the enhanced properties generated with our additives, project costs are reduced.
For more information on the innovative, engineered polymer fiber products available from Surface Tech, visit https://surface-tech.com/asphalt-ace-xp/
Interest builds as Surface Tech shares ACE XP ...
With 4.2 million tons of asphalt bid out last year in Kentucky, those attending the recent Plantmix Asphalt Industry of Kentucky (PAIKY) Annual Meeting were highly interested in learning how to achieve the best mix designs.
Phil Blankenship, P.E., principal of Blankenship Asphalt Tech & Training, provided an in depth look at Surface Tech’s innovative ACE XP Polymer Fibers product and its improvement on several mix designs. The room was full of major producers who appreciated the level of shared information, which was put forth in a transparent manner.
The interest in how ACE XP Polymer Fibers mix designs can be tested using the Indirect Tensile Cracking Test at Intermediate Temperature (IDEAL-CT) and the Hamburg index also increased, with at least one major producer committing to a lab/design aging protocol for IDEAL CT running through the 2020 season.
Contractors also showed an increase interest in ACE XP Polymer Fibers and IDEAL-CT, with several asking for assistance in designs as well as technical support on IDEAL-CT testing for specific projects.
“We’re seeing an increasing number of requests for help with mix designs, IDEAL-CT testing, and product samples for lab testing,” said Joe Dennis, Surface Tech’s Chief Technology Officer for Asphalt. “Interest is at an all-time high!”
In the West, interest in ACE XP Polymer Fibers was also high at the recent Rocky Mountain Asphalt Conference and Equipment Show. A presentation by Michael Scardina, US West Regional Sales Manager for Surface Tech, included Surface Tech’s new Good, Better, Best & Test Pilot Program for ACE XP Polymer Fibers in conjunction with the IDEAL-CT test and an overall discussion of Aramid Pavement Solutions. Participants were receptive to learning about the potential of ACE XP Polymer Fibers and the IDEAL-CT test, particularly since the test provides a reduced cost method that provides consistent results to predict field performance in cracking.
We invite you to explore our website or contact us to learn more about the cutting-edge capabilities of ACE XP Polymer Fibers to make your next asphalt mix design stronger and last longer.
To learn more about IDEAL-CT testing and the balanced mix approach and any of our asphalt products and services, contact us at asphalt@surface-tech.com.
Blackfeather Trail continues to see benefits of ...
In June 2017, the town of Castle Rock, CO decided to put ACE XP Polymer Fiber to the test on a busy section of Blackfeather Trail. With more than 40 years of experience in the paving industry, the civil engineers at Nilex were a trusted source for recommending the product as part of a thin lift repave project.
The location of this section of the road, near a middle school and recreation center, experiences continual high traffic from buses, commercial vehicles and cars. The unrelenting traffic load had created reflective and fatigue cracking. A thin lift repave of approximately 1.5 inches (38mm) was recommended as a solution that could not only withstand the stress from above and below, but also provide an lower cost alternative to expensive pavement grids.
Nilex recommended ACE Polymer Fiber for two main reasons. One, the product’s micro-fibers create a three-dimensional reinforcement solution uniquely suited to the high temperatures found in hot mix asphalt (HMA). ACE XP Polymer provides 400,000 psi tensile strength that combats rutting in summer heat as well as winter expansion/contraction cracking.
Two, ACE XP can be easily incorporated by any HMA contractor, and PLM Asphalt & Concrete, Inc. experienced no difficulties adding the fibers via vacuum line at the HMA plant. Once on site, the crews saw no change to the usual procedures for a non-reinforced installation.
For the town of Castle Rock, ACE XP proved to be a cost-effective solution for reducing cracks and future repair work. Today, almost three years later, the thin lift repave shows only minute wear and tear, and the life expectancy of this busy section of road has been extended far beyond the town’s traditional expectations.
For more information on ACE XP Polymer Fibers and how this innovative product can add strength and years of life to your next pavement project, contact Joe Dennis.
FRAP overlay proves it can handle tough road ...
As snow and ice bear down on the town of Monument, CO, the roads take a beating from heavy traffic, salt and brine. But come spring, one road in the town’s commercial district will emerge tough and travel worthy. That’s because Schmidt Construction Company introduced Monument’s public works officials to a new type of overlay: Fiber Reinforced Asphalt Pavement, commonly known as FRAP. Schmidt paved the heavily traveled commercial area with FRAP in March 2018.
FRAP contains millions of tiny aramid fibers, similar to the polymer fibers found in Surface Tech’s revolutionary ACE XP asphalt enhancement product. Aramid polymer fibers are five times stronger than steel and can withstand drum mixing temperatures well above 500 degrees, making them a perfect reinforcement for hot mix asphalt.
The FRAP overlays were not only stronger, but the price was less than typical interlayers, and construction time was unaffected. Since the fibers are dosed into the mix on site or at the plant, paving can follow any planned patching and milling schedule.
The minimum dosage of 2.1 ounces of fibers per ton of mix produces a 50 percent increase in rut resistance and up to a 150 percent increase in crack resistance. That’s because aramid fibers have incredible tensile strength. The mix also incorporated a 58/28 binder and still maintained flexibility at the town’s 6,975 feet of elevation.
Tri-View Metropolitan District, a large homeowners association within Monument, also tried FRAP on two streets with the town’s assistance. Initial checks on the pavements six months later revealed only tight cracks less than 2 inches long.
Pleased with the results, both the town and Tri-View have done more FRAP overlay paving, this time with Martin Marietta. And another major reconstruction overlay project in the Tri-View District was completed by Kiewit as part of the HOA’s multi-year improvement program.
All projects are seeing great results, proving asphalt made with fiber products like ACE XP can add years of life to pavement and provide an excellent return on investments for towns like Monument and HOAs like Tri-View.
What do bowstrings, hockey sticks and skis have ...
All require strength, flexibility and abrasion tolerance to achieve high performance. The common ingredient that delivers those winning traits is aramid fibers. These polymer synthetic fibers provide advantages that make them ideal for a wide range of products. So it’s not surprising that more than 60,000 tons of aramid fibers are produced annually, and demand continues to grow as new applications emerge.
Years ago, Surface Tech recognized the superior advantages that aramid fibers, particularly para-aramid fibers, could provide to asphalt applications. The company began offering the ACE XP aramid polymer fiber additive after years of painstaking research and multi-geographical testing. Back then, the challenge was to find a way to harness millions of tiny fibers into a final product that could be easily managed. By combining para-aramid with a wax treatment, Surface Tech achieved its goal of creating an additive that successfully reinforces and properly doses the entire matrix of asphalt.
The wax binds the polymer fibers to allow for an easy, reliable method for feeding into the asphalt mix. Once added, the wax melts and is fully soluble within the mix to release the polymer fibers in a uniform distribution. This unique delivery process produces the highest performing blend of Fiber Reinforced Asphalt Concrete (FRAC) on the market, and any asphalt project can benefit from ACE XP.
If you want an asphalt surface that resists cracking and rutting and dramatically extends the life of your pavement, call us. With para-aramid fibers, you’ll get asphalt that’s stronger than steel, and only from ACE XP — the Number One choice for strength, flexibility and abrasion tolerance.
Turn to ACE XP for Extreme Performance Asphalt
Contractors have come to depend on ACE XP Polymer Fiber from Surface Tech to make asphalt more durable and long-lasting. How does this high-tech additive deliver on its promise to produce extreme performance asphalt? The key lies in its chemical makeup — it’s composed of aramid polymers.
Aramid polymers contain a set of chemical properties that give them outstanding strength, flexibility and abrasion tolerance. They’re particularly useful in applications where flexing tolerance is important, like armor, airplane wings, ropes, cables, undersea pipelines, and of course asphalt applications.
To create ACE XP, high-strength aramid fibers are bundled and coated with wax to produce an asphalt additive that is simple and dependable to mix with any WMA or HMA in both drum and batch operations. In fact, this binder use insures proper aramid delivery into the WMA/HMA; and coupled with our precise dosing equipment, delivers consistently intended amounts into every ton of asphalt.
One of the most outstanding performance benefits of ACE XP lies in its micro roots. These tendrils tenaciously anchor themselves into the bitumen of the asphalt, providing 400,000 psi tensile strength. The result is a three-dimensional reinforcement throughout the asphalt and a flexibility that resists rutting during hot summers and cracking through cold winters.
Contractors will also appreciate the fact that ACE XP is a “dry" polymer fiber. Comparatively, it’s less expensive, more reliable, and easier to adopt. The MD3+ dosing system from Surface Tech delivers an easy, foolproof way to add ACE XP to any asphalt mixture.
Yet the ultimate beauty to ACE XP is its scalability and batch-to-batch reliability. Combined with the life-span improvements it provides, it’s a winning way to armor your asphalt for the long haul. That kind of reliability allows contractors to sell and place with confidence, knowing the asphalt they provide will deliver extreme performance based on an excellent polymer.