HiMA Technology launches first commercial pavement application

Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc., a global producer of styrenic block copolymers or SBCs, announced the first commercial sale and application of its highly modified asphalt (HiMA) technology in the United States. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (DOT) is using Kraton Polymers' HiMA technology in a two-mile rehabilitation project on Interstate 40 in Caddo County, Oklahoma. Kraton Polymers has been advised that this high-profile I-40 project is being closely studied by personnel of the Oklahoma DOT, Oklahoma Asphalt Pavement Association, and the Federal Highway Administration. HiMA uses a styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer with a low-enough viscosity that allows use in high percentages, 7.5%, whilst still allowing a paving mix to remain workable and compactable. Conventional polymer modifiers, when used in high percentages, result in a mix that is too viscous and hard to compact. Modification of liquid asphalt binders with polymers improves resistance to rutting, raveling and fatigue of asphalt mixes, but there is a practical limit to polymer concentration. Usually, as polymer concentration exceeds about three percent, the viscosity of the binder increases such that the mix becomes more difficult to produce in the plant and less workable for the paving crew. www.kraton.comNike Air Max 270