Asphalt (from Greek ασφαλτος ásphaltos "to endure") is both a natural and a technically produced mixture of the binder bitumen and aggregates. Applications include road pavements in road construction, mastic asphalt screeds and floor coverings in building construction, and waterproofing in hydraulic engineering.
Image: Asphalt as a road surface layer
pavements are divided into different types of layers for technical and economic reasons. A distinction is made between asphalt base courses, asphalt binder courses and asphalt surface courses. Depending on thickness and location, the layers provide their share of the load-bearing capacity of the overall construction, provided that all layers are connected to form a compact structure.
can be coloured in various ways, e.g. to colour squares. Colour pigments can either be added to the mixture or the freshly paved asphalt can be sprinkled with coloured minerals. It is also possible to spray on emulsion paints. For more durable applications, such as road markings, hot spray and hot plastic materials as well as cold plastic materials are used.
Asphalt can also be recycled. The binder bitumen can be liquefied again and thus added to newly mixed products.
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