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Cold Weather Work: Russia

Hot Climate: Saudi Arabia

Tennant Creek Australia

Slurry Surfacing is a versatile and durable product. It is a cold mixed asphaltic concrete! So its physical properties are based on the aggregate and the binder. How it resists low temperature and high temperature conditions is based on this.

Slurry Surfacing is a thin surfacing, it fails by cracking or wear. In hot climates and in thicker sections- as in a microsurfacing, deformation could be a mode of failure.

In cracking it may fatigue but this is not usual, it is more likely to reflect existing cracks or cracking that forms in the asphaltic concrete underneath. Thus low temperature cracking caused by tensile failure of underlying hot mix could reflect through the slurry surfacing.

In wear it is a matter of simple abrasion.

Polymer modified systems , either slurry with latex or SBS are more flexible and thus crack resistant. However unless very high polymer loadings are used this is not significant.

Polymer will increase abrasion resistance and the thicker films will increase durability.

Polymer systems also increase deformation resistance by increasing binder viscosity, elastic recovery and softening point.


What Does this mean for Application?

Hot Areas:
  1. In HOT areas polymer modified slurry surfacing- slurry and microsurfacing will have superior performance.
  2. A hard base binder such as a 40 to 60 pen will enhance this.
  3. Deformation resistance is enhanced with polymer binders in hard bases.

Deformation Resistance pen and latex effect

Deformation Resistance, polymer effect

Cold Areas:
  1. In COLD areas the main problems are cracking and wear from studded tyres.
  2. Polymer modified materials are more flexible and crack resistant.
  3. Soft base binders are more crack resistant.
  4. Larger stone mixes with hard and durable aggregates are more wear resistant.
  5. Polymer modified binder mixes are more abrasion resistant.

Fracture temperatures V pen and latex content

Fracture Temperatures V polymer Type

Hot and Cold Areas:
  1. Desert areas are hot and cold. Polymer modified materials can handle both ends of the temperature extremes.
  2. Medium pen binders 80/100 with polymers at 3-5% are ideal.
IN all conditions a slurry surfacing mixture- slurry seal with polymer or microsurfacing can be used for good pavement preservation.

See library section for detailed papers on this subject

Last Updated (Thursday, 15 October 2009 11:12)