Paving Interlayers are engineered geotextile fabrics placed between layers of asphalt concrete (AC). Since 1965, the Paving Interlayers have had an outstanding record of improving pavement performance while reducing maintenance and roadway life-cycle costs. Paving fabric systems are currently being used at a rate of over 15,000 equivalent lane miles per year in North America alone.
Paving Interlayer Systems extend the life of new AC pavements and AC overlays. When placed between layers of AC pavement, these systems becomes an integral part of the roadway section, forming a barrier to water infiltration and absorbing stresses to reduce reflective and fatigue cracking of the new asphalt surface layer.
As much as 100 million square yards of Interlayer Paving Systems are successfully being installed every year in the United States. These interlayer systems are being used for two primary reasons:
When possible it is recommended to stop milling above the interlayer system to retain the benefits of the waterproofing interlayer, or mill completely through the fabric elevation rather than mill exactly at the fabric interlayer whenever possible.
Waterproofing Composite Grid – A composite of a high modulus grid and a paving fabric (usually a 4.1 oz/sy AASHTOO M288 fabric) laminated in a manufacturing plant prior to shipment to the field. When installed, fabric side down over a field applied asphalt cement tack coat, the paving fabric side provides the moisture barrier and stress absorption functions while the grid top side imbeds into the asphalt concrete overlay to provide tensile and torsional reinforcement to stabilize and strengthen the overlay. Waterproofing Grids are currently made in at least two different strengths.
Heavy Duty – A composite of a paving fabric, a layer of asphalt cement with additives in the middle, and a layer of a high strength woven fabric applied as a strip treatment (typically comes in 12”, 24” and 48” wide strips) over an asphalt cement tack coat, paving fabric side down, on pavement joints and cracks under an asphalt concrete overlay to provide the functions of stress absorption, stress transfer, and moisture barrier.
View more information on the Strip Membrane Interlayers we carry here.
Paving Fabric Interlayers are used in the following applications: