Engineering Properties of Prime Coats Applied to a Granular Base

摘要

Prime coats have been widely used to protect sub-base layers during pavement construction. The engineering properties of a prime-coated base course play an important role in the overall stability of a pavement system. In this study, prime coats MC-30, AEP, EC-30, CSS-1H, SS-1H, and terra prime (TP) were used for testing. Strength and permeability of the specimens were measured. Crushed limestone was used as the base course. The prime coats were either sprayed on or mixed with the base course to evaluate the effect of the application method. In addition, penetration of the prime coats into reference sand was evaluated. For the conditions of this study, according to a developed ranking system, the best performing prime coats were TP and MC-30, with slightly better performance from TP. The results provided here can be used as a guideline for selecting the proper prime coat for field applications.