Cold Mix Asphalt Additives

With our rapidly aging road infrastructure, better road maintenance solutions are needed. Pavement patching is one of the most widespread and costly maintenance activities undertaken by highway agencies at all levels. Most patching practices are conducted in less than ideal conditions. Many potholes are formed due to the presence of water, and are often cold and wet when repaired. If they are dry, they contain high amounts of dust and loose stones. These are certainly less than ideal conditions in which to perform pavement maintenance, thus necessitating the need for high-performance patching solutions.

Many potholes are repaired using cutback asphalt or emulsion-based cold patch stockpile mixes during the winter months when either hot mix is not available or the repairs are too small to warrant the use of hot mix. Potholes are often repaired reactively rather than proactively. As a result, repairs must be done quickly and are often performed without the traffic control normally seen in larger construction projects. Maintenance crews must be able to apply the pothole patch quickly and move on to the next repair. This again highlights the need for high-performance patching solutions.

As a contractor who provides the patching mix for pothole repairs, it is of the utmost importance that the product you offer perform in these less than ideal conditions. Your patching mix must provide uniform binder coverage over the aggregate and must not be susceptible to stripping in the stockpile or after the patching mix is used in the repair. The mix must remain workable, be easy to transfer to the pothole and easy to compact.

Road Science manufactures the following performance-improving asphalt additives for exceptional cold mix quality and performance, enabling you to differentiate yourself from the competition.

ColdGrip™ IQ

Road Science has developed a smarter way to enable cutback asphalt use in cold patch stockpile mixes and cold mix paving applications with ColdGrip IQ. Many contractors have limited sources for their aggregates and end up paying more for higher quality stone to avoid coating challenges and stripping issues. When added to cutback asphalt, ColdGrip IQ chemically transforms cutbacks to easily coat cool, damp and dusty aggregates, eliminating coating headaches and enabling the use of less pricey aggregates for reduced costs and improved production efficiency. Cutback clings to aggregate with outstanding film thickness protecting stockpiles from rain-induced stripping, and eliminating reprocessing and wasted materials costs.

ColdGrip IQ technology extends cold patch life by ensuring the patch chemically bonds stronger to pothole walls and bottom, even in the presence of water, and guarding the patch against moisture damage, stripping and aggregate dislodgement. ColdGrip IQ’s low odor and low viscosity, even in freezing temperatures, allow for easier handling and operational convenience.

AD-here^® SC-901

For emulsion-based cold mix asphalt, Road Science offers AD-here SC-901 which has a tried and true 30-year reputation as the premier additive for emulsion-based cold patch stockpile mixes. Emulsions treated with AD-here SC-901 coat cool, damp and dusty aggregates better and with a thicker film, even with the most difficult-to-coat granitic aggregates which contain an abundance of quartz. The same outstanding film thickness is safer for stockpiles and protects them from rain-induced stockpile stripping, eliminating reprocessing and wasted materials costs.

AD-here SC-901 extends cold patch life by ensuring the patch chemically bonds stronger to pothole walls and bottom even, in the presence of water, and guarding the patch against moisture damage, stripping and aggregate dislodgement. The addition of SC-901 to emulsion will not affect emulsion viscosity and stability, enabling predictable and reliable emulsion characteristics.

Revive™ CM

Revive CM is the newest addition to the Revive family of asphalt rejuvenator additives. Revive CM is used in place of petroleum-based solvents to make cutbacks and emulsified cutbacks for use in high RAP content cold patch stockpile mixes. Revive CM is designed to chemically extract the highly oxidized asphalt from RAP and reincorporate it into the cold mix, while maintaining the workability and storage shelf life required for stockpile mixes.

Cold mixes designed with Revive CM increase profitability by reducing virgin aggregate and asphalt usage, and materials cost basis. Revive CM’s replacement of petroleum-based solvents is safer for workers and friendlier to the environment. Revive CM is renewable, with low toxicity, low odor and low volatile organic compounds (VOC), and has a flash point much higher than both naptha and diesel fuel.