CEMEX UK introduce roller-compacted concrete
Company offering lower-cost alternative to traditional flexible asphaltic pavement solutions
CEMEX UK have developed a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) – an alternative material aimed at the surfacing market which is currently dominated by flexible asphaltic solutions.
With reduced investment in infrastructure and the price of bitumen having risen by 60% over the last two years, CEMEX have been researching alternative materials that will help keep costs down but offer similar levels of performance over a considerable lifetime.
Based on a cementitious alternative to bitumen and with the latest additives and technology, CEMEX say RCC could have a major impact on the design of roads, surfaces and paved areas both now and in the coming decades, offering clients around 30% lower costs over a 50-year period.
‘Around 35% of the price of asphalt is directly attributable to the high cost of bitumen and it is because of this that we have developed today’s RCC, striving to get better value for our customers,’ said Will Fitzgerald, director of asphalt and paving solutions with CEMEX UK.
‘Whether the binders in the mix are bitumen based or cement based, they are doing the same job – binding aggregates.’
RCC is a non-slump concrete which shares many of the strength and durability attributes of traditional pavement-quality concrete, but is laid using conventional asphalt paving equipment.
Once laid by the paver, transverse cracks are induced at regular intervals to allow for any potential contraction of the concrete.
Given the long-term life-cycle cost benefits of RCC, CEMEX say there is huge potential for its use in both new construction and surfacing maintenance.
One possible solution currently being explored for roads and highways is the use of RCC with a thin asphalt overlay to provide skid resistance and noise reduction.
