Submission + - New asphalt could make potholes extinct (popsci.com)
joshuark writes: The graphene-infused roads may pave the way into the future. According to Essex County officials, a pilot test outside of London indicates that lanes imbued with one of the world’s strongest known materials outperforms and outlasts traditional asphalt. The name of the new super-street combination? Gipave.
Asphalt is typically made from a mixture of stone aggregates held together with viscous, petroleum-based substance called bitumen. However, engineers recently began experimenting with adding the graphite-derived material graphene into the mix.
Road maintenance remains one of the most costly issues facing local, state, and federal governments. One of the most recognizable and frequent problems is comparatively mundane. Cracks are inevitable in any road due to weakening materials and repeated stress over time. Once enough cars have sped over these fissures, chunks begin breaking off to create those infamous potholes that pop tires and ruin shocks.
asphalt combined with graphene to form a paving material called Gipave. Workers subsequently laid over 165 tons of Gipave for a lane on a new highway entrance road near London. They also added a second lane using traditional asphalt for a control. The Gipave was then exposed to thousands of car and truck tires throughout every season’s changing weather and temperatures over the next three years.
At the end of the experiment, third-party engineers extracted core samples from both lanes for lab testing and analysis. More specifically, they measured how much pressure it took to distort each dry sample, then tested them again after a 72-hour immersion in water. The graphene-enhanced asphalt performed 10 percent better in stiffness tests, as well as 20 percent better when it came to water sensitivity.
If there is any immediately obvious weakness to Gipave, it’s the price tag. Engineers estimate it costs around 30 cents per square foot to use Gipave. It would cost around $124.3 billion to repave all US highways with Gipave.
Asphalt is typically made from a mixture of stone aggregates held together with viscous, petroleum-based substance called bitumen. However, engineers recently began experimenting with adding the graphite-derived material graphene into the mix.
Road maintenance remains one of the most costly issues facing local, state, and federal governments. One of the most recognizable and frequent problems is comparatively mundane. Cracks are inevitable in any road due to weakening materials and repeated stress over time. Once enough cars have sped over these fissures, chunks begin breaking off to create those infamous potholes that pop tires and ruin shocks.
asphalt combined with graphene to form a paving material called Gipave. Workers subsequently laid over 165 tons of Gipave for a lane on a new highway entrance road near London. They also added a second lane using traditional asphalt for a control. The Gipave was then exposed to thousands of car and truck tires throughout every season’s changing weather and temperatures over the next three years.
At the end of the experiment, third-party engineers extracted core samples from both lanes for lab testing and analysis. More specifically, they measured how much pressure it took to distort each dry sample, then tested them again after a 72-hour immersion in water. The graphene-enhanced asphalt performed 10 percent better in stiffness tests, as well as 20 percent better when it came to water sensitivity.
If there is any immediately obvious weakness to Gipave, it’s the price tag. Engineers estimate it costs around 30 cents per square foot to use Gipave. It would cost around $124.3 billion to repave all US highways with Gipave.
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New asphalt could make potholes extinct
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