Duraclime
Lafarge is committed to being North America's leading developer and supplier of innovative asphalt products designed to optimize quality, performance, durability, and sustainability.
Duraclime™ uses warm mix asphalt technology to enable the production of asphalt mixes at reduced temperatures while also incorporating higher levels of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and asphalt shingle modifier (ASM).
Technical Benefits of Duraclime™
Mixed at lower temperatures, Duraclime™ reduces emissions, fuel consumption, smoke, and odors during the manufacturing process. This improves the comfort, safety, and environment for workers during construction operations. Residents in local communities and the traveling public notice the improved air quality near asphalt plants and paving sites.
The use of Duraclime™ can reduce the carbon footprint of a plant by 10 to 20 percent. With widespread implementation at all asphalt plants in North America, this reduction would be equivalent to removing the emissions from 200,000 to 500,000 cars a year.
Duraclime™ exhibits exceptional performance characteristics: longer pavement life because the light oils stay in the binder, reducing aging hardening; reduced thermal segregation; more uniform compaction; and longer compaction times.
The superior performance of Duraclime™ in North America has been demonstrated through extensive laboratory testing as well as on several in-service projects.
The Duraclime™ production process does not affect the asphalt binder rheology or performance grade (PG) classification. Additionally, the lower mixing temperatures are a sign of reduced aging of the asphalt binder.
Asphalt pavement analyzer (APA) wheel rut testing and tensile strength ratio (TSR) moisture susceptibility testing on Duraclime™ indicate comparable performance to conventional HMA, with the TSR results showing that Duraclime has a high resistance to moisture-induced damage.
