pcnelson.com

I am currently at the NAPA convention in Phoenix, Az and even after a weekend of the flu have had a very successful trip. However, the week before we came here Lehman-Roberts Co. had the opportunity to perform a brief but interesting trial of Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA). We have been reading about this new technology in our industry for several years now but this was our first chance to see it in person and to get to test its properties and potential. We partnered with Terex Roadbuilding using their new foaming technique to accomplish the reduced temperatures.

Even after only 300 tons of the mix, we are very excited about the potential that this new technology might bring to the market place. With lower fuel costs, reduced emissions, and longer compaction times their does not seem to be a downside to the product. We even ran some of the plant run mix through our APA and were able to see improvements in strength. We laid the mix on a 34 deg day in Jan and were able to get fair compaction on a less than desirable sub-base and we were able to work the mix well past the time when we normally would have been able to.

We are looking forward to another trial later in the spring. The plant is currently down for winter maintenance, however we are currently planning and longer and more definitive trial in March once the plant is back online.

Photos from the trial can be seen here.

[tags]Warm Mix Asphalt, WMA, NAPA, Lehman-Roberts Co.[/tags]