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RMC Get SMART
11 January 2005

RMC Western has successfully completed manufacturing trials of its Viatex SMA road surface, using Excel Fibre Technology’s Viscocel 500 binder-free fibre bitumen modifier pellets.  The trials, at RMC’s Forest Wood site, also featured Excel’s patented SMART refibreising system, which ensures the pellets are fully converted into loose, open fibre before being added to the SMA mix in a single continuous process.

RMC Western used the Visocel pellets to successfully manufacture and lay 6mm, 10mm and 14mm stone aggregate formulations of Viatex SMA.

David Goodman, Operations Manager with RMC Western, said of the trials:  “The Viatex made with Viscocel 500 pellets and the SMART system has demonstrated excellent performance characteristics and the easier, cleaner handling of the bitumen-free pellets will be a major benefit to our operation.”

Excel’s Viscocel 500 SMA fibre pellets provide improved performance over coated pellets, while requiring a lower addition rate and shorter mixing times for full dispersion.  As the pellets do not rely on a binder to hold the fibre together in pellet form, they deliver cleaner handling along with greater reliability and consistency of dispersion in the SMA mix, since the pellets do not rely on the binder melting before dispersion can take place.  This avoids ‘clumping’ in the mix and/or longer mixing times.

Once dispersed in the asphalt, Viscocel 500 fibres hold the bitumen in place by creating a lattice, which binds the material together, enhancing the bitumen’s ability to adhere to the aggregates.

Viscocel 500’s performance results from the closely controlled manufacturing process that ensures correctly engineered fibres are produced batch after batch and that these fibres are precisely pelletised so that they hold firmly together during handling and transportation, but break up and disperse readily prior to being added to the thin wearing course asphalt mix.  This results in superb consistency across the laid road surface and, consequently, a repeatable high level of performance.

The patented SMART range of pellet refibreising systems is based on three ‘primary module’ refibreising options, together with a range of standardised pellet hopper configurations to create a dedicated handling and refibreising unit that takes into account throughput rates, storage capabilities, working practices and existing plant equipment and infrastructure.

The SMART system used by RMC Western featured a gravimetric feed primary module, with a 0.5 tonne hopper that was fed with 0.5T bags of pellets.  RMC also has the option to replace the hopper with a bespoke silo unit to reduce manual handling of the feedstock even further.