Evonik Röhm - Reactive Resins to Bind Cold-Plastic Road-Marking Compounds

DEGAROUTE® is the world’s most recognised brand of high-quality, solvent-free methacrylate resins for use as binders in durable cold-plastic road-marking compounds.

DEGAROUTE allows for the compounding of tailor-made cold plastic road-markings on the basis of locally available fillers, pigments and additives. Methacrylate-based cold-plastic road-markings have continuously set the standards in the field of horizontal traffic guidance.

ROAD MARKINGS BASED ON COLD-PLASTIC

There are three main types of road markings, all based on cold-plastic:

• Profiled markings – these markings make a sound when a vehicle crosses over them
• Cold-spray plastic markings – these markings were enabled by the development of new high-quality, large-size reflective beads with optimized adherance properties
• Textures markings or cold-plastic agglomerates – these markings make a lower noise than the profiled markings

TEXTURED ROAD-SAFETY MARKINGS

Textured road-safety markings (also called cold-plastic agglomerates), are similar to profiled markings in that they produced a noise when run over by a vehicle. However, the noise produced is lower. Other advantages include the reduced material consumption and better snowplough resistance. Due to these and other advantages, the structure road-marking design of these cold-plastic agglomerates has gained popularity very quickly.

Structure markings, consisting of irregular small cold-plastic agglomerates of approximately 4mm thickness, are now available in several patterns. During wet conditions, the rain is channelled away from the agglomerates, allowing for continuous visibility. High-reflective glass beads on the marking surface provide superior retro-reflectivity.

DEGAROUTE classic cold-plastics are particularly suitable for manufacturing textured markings because they are not deformed by traffic even at higher temperatures. The good dimensional stability of the markings, provided by DEGAROUTE, is one of the main factors in the road-markings’ long-lasting visibility.

METHACRYLATE RESINS

Methacrylate systems adhere well to asphalt and concrete substrates. This quality, combined with excellent bead retention, makes methacrylate ideal for road markings that meet retro-reflectively requirements over many seasons.

Methacrylate reactive resins are well-suited to the formulation of structure markings. They are blended with fillers, glass beads, pigments and additives to create highly thixotropic materials that hold their shape during applications.

Methacrylate markings do not deform, as other profiled systems do under high ambient temperatures and repeated traffic loading, because of the chemical curing process. A life span of five years or longer is not uncommon for these systems.

SUPERIOR NIGHT VISIBILITY

Methacrylate road markings provide excellent night visibility. For profiled markings, the beads on the front sides, as well as those on the peaks of the elevations, have an effect. These beads, on the sides, are protected against tire contact and general wear and tear, and thus the visibility they provide is very durable.

These safety road-markings are also environmentally friendly as they do not require solvents or external heat for application. Other benefits include:

• Skid resistance – providing safety, especially for cyclists and pedestrians
• Existing markings can be maintained by respraying, as the materials readily bond to themselves
• Easy application

MARKINGS LINKED TO ROAD SAFETY

Over the last years, methacrylate structure markings have proved their practical suitability in many different countries. These superior road markings have gained in popularity due to their durability and wet-night visibility.

For example, in Switzerland,where structure markings where invented, approximately 70% of highways and 35% of all roads in the 71,000km (44,000 miles) Swiss transportation system include the use of structure markings for improved delineation and driver guidance.

Although not attributed directly to the use of structure markings, per capita fatalities on Swiss roads during the 10-year evaluation period fell from 12.4 in 1991 to 8.3 in 2000, a decrease of 33%. Similar experiences have recently been reported recently on a structured marking trial site in the UK, where personal injury accident wet-night accidents have been reduced significantly.