A True Comparison of Paving Mats in the Marketplace
by Jeffrey Rasche, on November 13, 2020
It can be very confusing when deciding among different fiberglass paving mats in the marketplace. Although they may appear to have similar physical properties when comparing technical data sheets, it's important to have an understanding of the composition of these products that make their performance very different.
For example, Saint-Gobain manufactures GlasPave paving mats, and has invested in research and performance on its HMA pavement reinforcing interlayer products for over 30 years. When products are backed by this much research, engineers can have confidence in the company's performance claims and reduced life-cycle costs impacts.
One feature of GlasPave paving mats is the elastomeric polymer pre-coating used to bond the individual glass fibers together, ensuring that they work in unison to maximize tensile strength and superior crack delay performance. Other paving mats are composed of less durable materials such as chopped fiberglass and polyester fibers and have less capability to resist the stress/strains of the HMA pavement.
To demonstrate and quantify various products' ability to resist cracks, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) conducted an overlay fracture performance study. The TTI testing captured the stress and strain improvement provided by interlayers and allowed for the calculation of an interlayer product's ability to resist reflective cracking. The CMF (Crack Mitigating Factor) quantifies the combined improvement of the reinforced asphalt vs. unreinforced asphalt in terms of dealing with both stresses and strains.
The results of the testing, which are summarized in the table below, indicate that GlasPave25 delays reflective cracking up to 3.2 times longer than pavement with no reinforcing interlayer and a 45% improvement compared to uncoated products such as TruPave at only 2.2 times longer.
When it comes to choosing the best HMA pavement reinforcing interlayer for your pavement maintenance project, it's important to gather all of the facts. To learn more about comparing paving mats, click the button to download our flyer.
Want to learn more about GlasPave and GlasGrid HMA pavement reinforcing interlayers? Access our resource center packed full of valuable info, including webinars and case studies.