Pavement Distress

Rutting
Fatigue Cracking
Thermal Cracking
Aging
Stone Loss

A combination of traffic and climate can cause asphalt mix damage and loss of performance. The main modes of distress are permanent deformation (rutting) and cracking.

When added to Bitumen binders, Kraton® polymers can reduce these effects, resulting in an improved and longer-term performance of the road. The ability of a small amount of Kraton D polymer to change the viscous bitumen into a product with elastomeric properties over an extended temperature range is key to these important improvements in performance.

Producers of other types of road binder modifiers highlight the performance of a single characteristic. Only Binders modified with Kraton D polymers can score well across all relevant aspects. And those roads with a full-range of enhanced characteristics are likely to last longer.

• Hot climates often combine permanent deformation and rutting with ageing and fatigue related cracking. Due to the heat, hard bitumen is required. Often, the temperature range observed between day and night will result in high shrinkage related tensile stresses, potentially leading to thermal cracking as well.
• Low temperatures often combine thermal and fatigue cracking.
• Heavily loaded roads are often most damaged by permanent deformation or fatigue cracking initiated by thermal cracking.
• Roads in extreme climates with heavily loaded vehicles are obviously the most severe conditions, requiring modification to achieve a substantial lifetime for a road.