Blog posts tagged with 'Asphalt'

The list of essential ingredients for hot mix asphalt is exceedingly short for a composite material with such complex characteristics: asphaltic cement and mineral aggregates. Modern, flexible pavements with different mix designs are simply variations in the properties and ratios of the essential ingredients and adjustments to temperatures, handling, and placement methods. This article is an overview of past and present asphalt mix design methods and equipment, including Hveem, Marshall, Superpave, and Balanced Mix Design (BMD).

Balanced Mix Design is a practical and common-sense approach to constructing long-lasting asphalt pavements. The design of asphalt mixes traditionally follows a prescriptive, volumetric path. Materials are selected and combined to meet the requirements of the specification with little evidence of what their real performance will be in a localized application or a certain environment. Researchers and practitioners alike have concluded that just mixing the specified ingredients in the stated volumes is a poor predictor of long-term asphalt pavement performance. As one prominent paving engineer put it, “Let’s stop using the recipe to determine if the cake is good.”

Measuring the permeability of asphalt mixes is a powerful tool to predict and improve the service life of flexible pavements. In this blog post, we will discuss methods and the testing equipment needed for two basic asphalt permeability tests to mitigate pavement problems over the long term.

Comparing the pros and cons of solvent extraction vs. the furnace ignition method for asphalt content testing will help you select the best procedure for your application.