How is Asphalt Made?
On our materials yard there are feeder bins that store various materials; these materials are loaded on to a conveyor belt that takes them through a shaker screen to ensure that only the desired materials are used. Under the screen is another conveyor belt that deposits the material into a large round drum. This drum is essentially a large dryer for the aggregate material. Liquid asphalt is integrated with the aggregate and mixed to ensure that it is coated thoroughly. When this happens, the mixture is now known as Hot Mix Asphalt; it is loaded into storage silos until it is distributed into tri axle trucks to haul it to various job sites.
Most of us are familiar with asphalt. We see it used on our roadways, as the cover for jogging paths, and often the material of choice for parking lots. Here are a few facts about how asphalt is made, as well as some examples of the different types of asphalt used today. While we often refer to the road covering we know as asphalt, the fact of the matter is that the substance would be more accurately referred to as an asphalt compound. Asphalt itself is a hydrocarbon mixture that is heated until it has the consistency of tar. Depending on the amount of heating, asphalt may take on a relatively solid state, or become the consistency of a thick liquid. With some uses, such as in road building, the semisolid asphalt is mixed in with other elements such as crushed stone, sand, or gravel to make up the compound that is used to provide cover on highways and city streets. The hydrocarbon material that is used to create asphalt is actually derived from the waste material left over after the ma
