Duracycle
Lafarge is committed to being the leading developer and supplier in North America of innovative asphalt products designed to optimize quality, performance, durability, and sustainability.
Duracycle™ is a range of branded proprietary hot mix asphalt products that contain enhanced levels of recycled material. Using locally sourced recycled materials such as reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), asphalt shingle modifier (ASM), and crushed glass sand, Duracycle reduces the demand for primary aggregates and makes a significant contribution to sustainable-resource and environmental objectives.
Technical Benefits of Duracycle™
Duracycle™ is based on the knowledge that asphalt for use in road construction is 100 percent recyclable and that the use of RAP for recycling has been widespread for 30 years.
Asphalt pavement is the most recycled material in the United States. Each year, more than 100 million metric tons of asphalt pavement is reused or recycled into new pavements.
A major benefit of all this recycling is that it virtually happens at the top of the value/end-use chain; that is, the product goes back into new asphalt material, without detriment or compromise to the quality of the finished product.
Lafarge North America asphalt operations don't just recycle RAP; our mixes use "waste" material from other industries as well, with roofing shingles, tire rubber, glass, and spent rail ballast all being incorporated into new asphalt production. Thereby reducing total life-cycle greenhouse gases by 10 percent.
The Superpave mix design method can be applied to mixes containing RAP and ASM, including mixes containing high percentages of RAP (25 percent) and ASM (10 percent).
In terms of mechanical performance, results show that the use of RAP and ASM:
- Increases stiffness at 20 degrees C and 10Hz. This point is very advantageous for pavement design
- Improves the rutting resistance of HMA
- Improves the fatigue resistance of HMA
- Insignificantly affects low-temperature cracking resistance in mixes containing up to 15 percent RAP and 5 percent ASM
Provides moisture-resistance tensile strength ratio (TSR) values over the 80 percent AASHTO-required limit.
