Extending the life cycle of worn-out roads.

Paving thin layers in cold application offers a fast and economically efficient alternative to replacing the entire road pavement. What damage patterns are suitable for this application? How to produce a perfect bond between layers?

Traffic safety is jeopardized when the road surface gets slippery, when wheel ruts have dug into the pavement, or when the road is covered with bumps and deformations. Paving thin layers in cold application is a method that is increasingly used for restoring road surfaces to good evenness and skid resistance. Known as “microsurfacing” in many countries around the globe, paving thin layers in cold application prolongs the service life of damaged asphalt roads without the need for replacing the entire road pavement.

Fine milling paves the way

Cold milling machines fitted with fine milling drums prepare the road surface for application of the thin, cold pavement layer. Fine milling removes deformations in the pavement surface. It works at a maximum milling depth of 50 mm, reprofiling the pavement by means of modern levelling technology to produce a level surface.

Optimum bond between layers

The slightly roughened surface texture produced by fine milling offers the perfect base for creating an excellent bond with the thin layers paved in cold application. The grooves in the fine-milled profile firmly interlock with the thin layers paved in cold application, resulting in excellent layer adhesion.

Mix for the new pavement

Once the fine milling machines have completed their preliminary operations, the paving mix for the thin, cold pavement layer is produced directly on site by means of automotive mixing and laying machines. It consists of a well-graded mineral aggregate mix with particle sizes ranging from 3 to 8 mm, polymer-modified cationic bitumen emulsion, cement and water.

Two layers for a new pavement surface

The cold paving mix is distributed across the full width in two separate layers, the first being the profile, the second the surface course layer.

Economical alternative to full pavement rehabilitation

Ever more rarely does the strained financial situation of public budgets permit cost-intensive full rehabilitation measures to be carried out on a large scale. To ensure that the road network is maintained in good condition, alternative methods, such as paving thin layers in cold application, are therefore more popular than ever. Thin layers in cold application offer an economically efficient, but also fast-paced solution.

Paving as mobile roadworks

Paving thin layers in cold application is suitable to be carried out as mobile roadworks, and the road can be reopened to traffic quickly. More than 5 million square metres of thin layers in cold application are paved in Germany alone each year.