Epoxy Asphalt for Long Span bridge decks

Local paving crews using conventional asphalt paving equipment install Epoxy Asphalt. ChemCo Systems engineers provide training and technical support during the project. ChemCo supplies the special blending equipment (meter-mix machine) for the two Epoxy Asphalt components. This special equipment is operated by local labor. There is no need to import specialized labor.

Local Paving Crews

Epoxy Asphalt provides the absolute minimum delays for re-paving existing bridges under traffic. An Epoxy Asphalt pavement is ready for traffic in its partially cured state once it has cooled to ambient temperature. It develops full strength over two to four weeks depending on average daily temperatures.

Minimum Traffic Delays

Epoxy Asphalt pavements include high quality, polish resistant aggregates that provide outstanding skid resistance throughout their life. The Epoxy Asphalt binder does not "bleed" as do thermoplastic bituminous paving materials when the pavement gets hot. As soon as the binder on the aggregate exposed to traffic wears off, vehicle tires see only the aggregate.

Skid Resistance

Because Epoxy Asphalt binder is a thermoset polymer (as opposed to a thermoplastic polymer such as conventional and rubber-modified asphalt), it provides excellent resistance to rutting and shoving even under high wheel loads in hot and cold climates.

Resistance to Rutting and Shoving

Epoxy Asphalt provides another layer of corrosion protection for the steel deck in addition to the primary corrosion protection coating because of its low void content of less than 3%. The voids that do exist are not interconnected. The result is an impervious pavement with extreme resistance to penetration of water and chloride ions.

Corrosion Protection

The excellent fatigue resistance of Epoxy Asphalt enables it to maintain its integrity on orthotropic steel bridge decks without cracking even after the deflections caused by millions of wheel loads. The composite action of the epoxy asphalt, unlike that of more flexible pavements, increases the fatigue life of the steel deck and structure by reducing deflection, and thus strain, in the steel.

Fatigue Resistance

Advantages

The two-component Epoxy Asphalt binder, when cured, becomes a two-phase epoxy polymer that contains an asphalt extender. The continuous phase is an acid cured epoxy and the discontinuous phase is a mixture of asphaltic materials. It is a thermoset polymer (it will not melt). This binder, combined with high quality standard asphalt paving aggregates, forms a tough polymer concrete called Epoxy Asphalt Concrete. A hot spray application of an Epoxy Asphalt bond (tack) coat precedes the laying of the Epoxy Asphalt Concrete.

What is Epoxy Asphalt?

Epoxy Asphalt is an extremely high performance paving system for orthotropic steel decks on long span bridges.