In a world first, a 1km stretch of road in Rome has been resurfaced with a super-modifier containing the unique material, graphene.
The two upper layers of the Strada Provinciale Ardeatina have been refurbished and are now host to the first commercial testing of Ecopave, a patented material developed by Directa Plus and Iterchimica. The super-modifier is based on the Directa Plus’ Graphene Plus or G+ product, a chemical free, non-toxic material which boasts some remarkable properties and imparts added functionality to products. It is used in a variety of industrial and commercial applications, including ski jackets.
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Ecopave is designed to improve a road surfaces’ mechanical and physical performance by increasing resilience to distortion and by decreasing sensitivity to disparities in ambient temperature. This first phase of testing follows three years of promising research and laboratory tests in which Ecopave increased fatigue resistance by up to 250%. This implies that the average service life of road surfaces could be extended significantly at a lower life cycle cost than currently available tarmacs.
Our super-modifier with G+ showed outstanding results in the lab tests. The road service life significantly increases thanks to the increased resilience of the asphalt, which becomes more resistant.
Federica Giannattasio, CEO, Iterchimica
Iterchimica is an Italian-based manufacturer of products that aims to enhance asphalt performance and lays road surfaces that increase safety, environmental sustainability and efficiency.
“With this field test we can prove that this technology can provide better roads, that are more sustainable and with less maintenance needs, with consequent benefits for public authorities, citizens and general contractors,” Giannattasio added.
"Environmental sustainability is one of our core values, embedded in our whole production process and in the life cycle of our products," said Giulio Cesareo, founder and chief executive of Directa Plus, who are exhibiting at this year’s Global Graphene Expo and Conference in Texas, USA.
This application is perfectly in line with our values, enabling us to help to create roads that last longer thanks to our G+ family of products.
Giulio Cesareo, Founder & CEO of Directa Plus
The CEO went on to add: "It is another example of the wide application of G+ technology into large established markets where we can materially improve product performance. The Ecopave opportunity is substantial, and we look forward to a time when motor vehicles with tyres containing G+ drive on roads surfaced with tarmacs containing G+.”
The commercial testing also includes teams from the University La Sapienza in Rome, and the Metropolitan City of Rome, who will constantly monitor the performance of the road surface. Ecopave and other new technologies will help to meet Italy's Green and Circular Economy standards. Once laid, Ecopave can be 100% recycled, helping to reduce the extraction of new materials from quarries and first-use bitumen (asphalt).
Graphene has been hailed a wonder material and has the potential to impact many industries, thanks to its unusual properties. This single-atom layer of carbon - arranged in a hexagonal lattice - is the strongest material ever tested. Graphene conducts heat and electricity with ease, is almost transparent, and imparts many useful properties to substances it is combined with.
Source: http://www.iterchimica.it/
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