Additive to improve properties of asphalt cement concrete and method of manufacturing thereof
AssigneeSurface Tech LLC
InventorSteven Santa Cruz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Reinforcing filaments or fibers, such as aromatic polyamide (aramid) fibers, can be reliably measured and consistently mixed into asphalt cement concrete by soaking the fibers in a wetting agent, then severing them to a desired length, and mixing the segments with other ACC ingredients. The wetting agent holds the fibers together loosely, so they can be distributed more uniformly throughout the ACC without clumping. The wetting agent soaks into the ACC mixture and/or evaporates, leaving the reinforcing fibers behind.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- soaking, continuously, different portions of a plurality of continuous aramid fibers in a length direction of the plurality of continuous aramid fibers, in a liquid to produce continuous portions of a wet continuous aramid fiber bundle;
- wringing, continuously, excess liquid from continuous portions of the wet continuous aramid fiber bundle by applying a level of tension, continuously, to the wet continuous aramid fiber bundle, to increase a ratio by weight of fiber to liquid of the continuous portions of the wet continuous aramid fiber bundle to about 3:1, so that a filament-air interface surface tension in the continuous portions is greater than a filament-liquid interface surface tension in the continuous portions;
- severing the continuous portions of the wringed continuous aramid fiber bundle, continuously after wringing the excess liquid, into segments of uniform length, each such segment consisting of a plurality of aramid filament segments soaked in liquid and wringed;
- placing the segments of uniform length into airtight packaging;
- and
- sealing the airtight packaging to discourage evaporation of the liquid from the aramid filament segments soaked in liquid.
A ready-to-use additive for improving characteristics of asphalt cement concrete, comprising:
- a plurality of aramid fiber bundles soaked with a wetting agent, each bundle comprising a plurality of aramid filaments of similar length bound loosely together by surface tension of the wetting agent,
- the plurality of aramid fiber bundles stored in a sealed container operative to retard evaporation of the wetting agent prior to addition of the aramid fiber bundles to an asphalt cement concrete mixture,
- wherein a filament-air interface surface tension in bundles among the plurality of aramid fiber bundles is greater than a filament-liquid interface surface tension in the bundles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.