PolyCom Stabilising Aid Proves Ideal for Maintenance of Unsealed Roads
05 February 2010
During maintenance and planning of a road one of the main considerations is the in-situ conditions and proximity of suitable materials. The most common problem in the selection of a suitable material for road construction is its corresponding clay content, as a material with even a small amount of an active clay mineral can cause this material to be unsuitable or have insufficient strength for its intended use.
In cases such as these, suitable materials must be sourced from a borrow pit as close to the intended site as possible. These materials, and their transportation, can be expensive.
With PolyCom stabilising aid, however, it is possible to treat these substandard or marginal materials simply and economically. PolyCom interacts with the clay particles within these soils, alters the clay-water relationship and renders these previously unsuitable materials suitable.
As PolyCom is treating the clay within the soil at a particle level, a very small quantity per m² is required. With PolyCom you are able to make use of the in-situ materials and the costly exercise of transporting borrow pit materials is largely eliminated. As the cost of PolyCom is far lower then normal stabilisation materials (typically less than half), it allows many more kilometres of road to be managed with the same budget or, alternatively, as far less is spent on the layer works of the road to be built with the same budget, more money can be utilised for a seal or accompanying works (drainage mechanisms, curbs, etc) .
Where suitable gravels exist, the treatment of these materials with PolyCom minimises deterioration should there be penetration of water beneath the seal. Maintenance and repair work is restricted to that of the seal.
Unlike conventional stabilisers, there is no working period or time limit when stabilising a layer with PolyCom. This adds a further potential cost saving to users during wet weather or in the event of machinery downtime.
