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Asphalt batch mix plant A machine laying asphalt concrete, fed from a dump truck. Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, [1] blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, and the core of embankment dams. [2]
Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called "asphaltum", but the term is less commonly used today. [15] In American English, "asphalt" is equivalent to the British "bitumen". However, "asphalt" is also commonly used as a shortened form of "asphalt concrete" (therefore equivalent to the British "asphalt" or "tarmac").
Tarmacadam is a concrete road surfacing material made by combining tar and macadam (crushed stone and sand), patented by Welsh inventor Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1902. It is a more durable and dust-free enhancement of simple compacted stone macadam surfaces invented by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam in the early 19th century.
Tarmac is sometimes incorrectly used, mostly by news media, as a term for any paved surface of an airport regardless of material, including the Airport apron;
One of these engineers was Richard Edgeworth, who filled the gaps between the surface stones with a mixture of stone dust and water, providing a smoother surface for the increased traffic using the roads. [17] This basic method of construction is sometimes known as water-bound macadam.
Runways, taxiways and ramps, are sometimes referred to as "tarmac", though very few runways are built using tarmac. Takeoff and landing areas defined on the surface of water for seaplanes are generally referred to as waterways. Runway lengths are now commonly given in meters worldwide, except in North America where feet are commonly used. [2]
Pitch produced from petroleum may be called bitumen or asphalt, while plant-derived pitch, a resin, is known as rosin in its solid form. Tar is sometimes used interchangeably with pitch, but generally refers to a more liquid substance derived from coal production, including coal tar , or from plants, as in pine tar .
The material is applied in a freshly mixed slurry and worked mechanically to compact the interior and force some of the cement slurry to the surface to produce a smoother, denser surface free from honeycombing. The water allows the mix to combine molecularly in a chemical reaction called hydration.