How temperature affects chip sealing
How temperature affects chip sealing
Springtime temperatures are great for outdoor activities.
Go on a nice walk with your pets. Take your family to the local park. Catch Arizona’s amazing sunsets after a nice hike.
Let’s not forget chip sealing!
That’s right. A pavement preservation method, chip sealing can only be done in a specific temperature range and spring temperatures are ideal.
A chip seal is a type of road surfacing when aggregate (crushed gravel) and an emulsion (asphalt binders plus water) are laid down together to form the new top road surface.
There’s actually two different types of chip sealing. One is the kind described above, while the other is known as a hot application. For this, different, heavier asphalt binders are sprayed on the roadway surface at temperatures between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit and covered with chips that are pre-coated in asphalt.
Chip sealing creates a better, smoother roadway surface and that’s what’s happening in the video of a pavement preservation project on State Route 86 near Tucson.