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There is no heating or drying of the aggregates. In the pugmill, 7% water and 3% foamed asphalt are introduced into the mix. This produces a very stable and extremely strong base material.
Foamed asphalt base is placed in a conventional paving operation. It bonds extremely well. The joints are nearly impossible to detect. Its stability is similar to asphalt and its load bearing is similar to concrete. Due to 14% air voids in the mix, it is not suitable as a surface course.
In addition, it may be stockpiled for up to forty days.
What is Foamed Asphalt?
Foamed asphalt is produced by using a specialized manifold to force water and air through conventional PG 64-22 liquid asphalt. The high temperature of the asphalt causes the cool water to expand rapidly.
This expansion causes the asphalt to form miniscule air bubbles, in other words “foam”. During blending the foamed asphalt’s volume is ten times the size that the liquid asphalt alone would be.
The benefit of the foam formation is that the liquid asphalt has a much greater surface area and much lower viscosity. This causes it to bind more readily with aggregates.
Another benefit is that the mix will not compact until the air bubbles have been driven from the liquid. This allows stockpiling of the material. |