LATTICI PER EMULSIONI BITUMINOSE

For many years the bituminous emulsions are used in the field of road to "impregnate", "treat", "stabilize" and pave. In the pre-war period they represented the most effective way to better organize the roads.

Although implemented with techniques and methodologies suitable for vehicular traffic at the time, the bituminous emulsions made it possible to obtain pavings bonded to the surface, impermeable and with good load-bearing capacity and represented the best technical solution against the accumulation of dust and mud on the mantle road. With the passage of time, and therefore during the post-WWII reconstruction, the road technique has evolved undergoing a substantial acceleration: this is how the first asphalt plants and the first pavers for paving appeared.

The technical evolution and the increase of the vehicular traffic have determined the decadence of the primary role of binder of the bituminous emulsions. Nowadays, the increase in sensitivity towards environmental problems and the need to reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere has led to a change that has also involved the road sector. In fact, new cold techniques have been added to the traditional and consolidated methodologies of hot laying, suitable for the recycling of floors and for superficial refurbishments.

With the new-generation polymer-based bitumen emulsions it is possible to realize cold microtapes to roughen smooth surfaces and, above all, it is possible to intervene with in situ recycling techniques in the intermediate and deep layers of the pavement, consolidating and reinforcing the damaged areas. In many road-building applications, bitumen emulsions are the safest and most environmentallyfriendly alternative to using hot bitumen as the risks of emissions and burns are avoided, and the production process is less energy intensive.