What Is Rubberized Asphalt?
Rubberized asphalt is not new but just starting to resurface throughout the US. It is produced from grinding up whole scrap tires from automobiles. Elastiko is applied to the crumb rubber in order to improve the handling and workability characteristics of the mix. Also rubberized asphalt consumes an estimated 220,000,000 pounds or around 12 million tires annually. (That number is expected to grow) More and more states are starting to see the benefits of rubber in asphalt and recently have been taking on the old technology and mastering the process. With all the tests done and the years of modifying the processes, the benefits are starting to show for themselves.
There are many benefits that afford to asphalt plants when they use Elastiko Engineered Crumb Rubber (ECR) instead of polymer as a means of modification. Polymer modified asphalt tends to be sticky and hard to process through a plant’s system. As a result, production rates can be much less than if using ECR to modify your mix. Also, there tends to be no build up in conveyors, silos or other plant equipment when using rubberized asphalt mix.
Rubber Asphalt Benefits
• ECR reduces the cost of a two grade bump: by $2-$4 per mix ton
• ECR makes your plant run faster compared to polymer modified mixes: lower mix viscosities permit 10-15% faster plant throughput
• ECR generates less waste: mixes leave the truck with almost no residue in the bed, reducing truck cleanout waste
• ECR can extend your paving season: ECR mixes can allow paving and compaction in colder temperatures
• ECR allows more efficient compaction: ECR mixes typically require 10-20% fewer roller passes to achieve compliant compaction
• ECR pavements work well in thinlay applications: Compared to standard unmodified hot mix asphalt, ECR pavements can achieve greater durability with thinner lifts.
People who manage roads, especially publicly funded ones, are having to do more with less given their budget restraints. That’s where rubberized asphalt information comes to the rescue. Everyone knows that ECR modified asphalt is less expensive to produce than polymer modified mixes. This reduced expense is passed along to road managers through lower bids, thus allowing limited resources to be spread out even further. Also, not only do road owners get better roads, but they get better roads at a better price. Road owners realize: lower bid costs and better roads.
Here is how the rubberized asphalt process works: A chemically Engineered Crumb Rubber product called Elastiko ECR is fed into your plant during mix production, just like a fine aggregate. The heated binder reacts with the ECR during mixing, storage and transport. The delivered mix lays and performs like a polymer-modified pavement, but at a fraction of the cost.
Asphalt Plus LLC is a specialty chemical and equipment manufacturing company headquartered near Chicago, IL. We produce Elastiko engineered crumb rubber additive for rubberized asphalt application. Over the past two decades, extensive lab also field work has created a new binder modification option for asphalt producers. Dry process rubber modification of asphalt also allows you to produce rubber-modified mixes that perform like polymer-modified mixes without the use of terminal blending. Asphalt Plus engineered rubber has endured a wide range of harsh climate & road use conditions.
As a result of these situations, Asphalt Plus has performed impeccably well with nearly 6 million tons of placed Dry Mix Asphalt. We have assisted the auto manufacturing industry, the Department of Defense, Energy and Interior in cost-effectively reducing both their operating costs and their environmental footprint in a wide range of activities.
Our management & staff possess many technical degrees including PhDs, MBAs, MSs, BSs and CPAs as well as hundreds of years of professional experience. We make every effort to bring these skills and our collective experience into every industry we serve, and our record of growth and success speaks for itself.
Below is a video of a successful project laying rubberized asphalt using Elastiko® engineered crumb rubber from Asphalt Plus.
