Dutch News (NOS) item on asphalt quality today

The NOS TV-news chanel had an item today on the bad quality of the Dutch roads after the heavy snow and ice of the last weeks. Maybe our self healing asphalt is a solution.......?

Click here to see the news item (in Dutch).

Radio Interview RNW

click here to listen to the radio interview on Radio Netherlands Worldwide. It is in Dutch....

this should be history....

With the new self healing asphalt we should no longer get damaged windshields!
Car insurance companies should like this.

radio-interview for RNW

Last Friday (december 24) Erik was interviewed by RNW (Radio Netherlands Worldwide) on the application of the new Self Healing Asphalt. The interview will be broadcast this week (for details see http://www.rnw.nl/)

Merry Christmas from Delft

371 visitors in 4 days

The Blog is now 4 days in the air. It can not be found via Google yet, but still we have had 371 visitors from different countries. Below is the top 10 list.

Self Healing Asphalt on YouTube

Alvaro explains how it works on YouTube

Lab experiments in preparation

Of course we are not going to wait untill we get damage in the real asphalt on the road. Next to the test track an extensive research program is being prepared (sponsored by Rijkswaterstaat , the Ducth Government).
Tests that will be performed are ITS(R), bending, fatigue, RSAT, CT-scanning, nano-indentation, microscopy, etc. The tests will be done on virgin, artificialy aged and on healed specimens.

The pictures show the setup and specimens for the RSAT test that is developed and will be used by partner Heijmans. This test gives a very good indication of the performance of the new asphalt against raveling.

How the Self Healing Works:

In the new asphalt that is developed in this project small steelwol fibers are mixed in the bitumen. After some time (probably a few years or after a strong winter like we have now) when small microcracks occur in the bitumen and when the aggregates in the asphalt mix at the surface start to debond, the steelwool fibers are heated with induction energy. By heating up the fibers the bitumen will melt and close the cracks and repair the bond with the aggregates. It is important not to apply too much heating, because that would close all the pores in the porous asphalt.

The induction technique will be further developed and optimized in this project bij partner INTRON.

Conference on Self Healing Materials

From 27-29 June 2011 the Third International Conference on Self Healing Materials will be organised in Bath, UK.





for more info check the website

now it is time to send in abstracts

Self Healing Materials on Dutch TV

If you would like to know more about self healing materials you should watch the TV-program "HET KLOKHUIS" tomorrow evening on the "Nederland 3" from
18:25 to 18:40. They will show the development of Self Healing Polymers

for more info look at the site of AgentschapNL

or look at the site of "Het Klokhuis". There you can also watch it on internet later, in case you missed it.

CT-scan of new asphalt

To check the distribution of fibers in the asphalt we put some samples in our CT-scanner. This gives the nice images below.

mechanism of raveling

The picture below gives a schematic represenation of raveling:

The location.

The location of the test track is on the A58 near Vlissingen

Some more pictures

Under the tab "More pictures" some more photos are placed taken at the A58

Self Healing Asphalt on A58

Saturday December 11 was an important day for the self healing asphalt. The concept which is the outcome of the IOP project SHM0617 “Unravelling of Porous Asphalt” is used in a full scale application. On the Dutch highway A58 near Vlissingen a section of 400 meter had to be renewed. Rijkswaterstaat, always willing to try new inventions, offered the road to science. The self healing porous asphalt developed by the Microlab and the Road Engineering lab of the Civil Engineering faculty of Delft University was used. Contractor Heijmans, also partner in the IOP project, took care of making the asphalt and placing it on the road. Partner INTRON will take care of the healing process by using an induction machine to heat up the steelwool fibers that are placed inside the material. Alvaro Garcia and Erik Schlangen, members of the developers-team , went in spite of the cold weather to Zeeland to shoot some pictures.