Low Environmental Impact Coatings for Road Pavements

Dear Colleagues,

The “sustainability” concept relates to the prolonging of human economic systems with as little detrimental impact on ecological systems as possible. Construction that exhibits good environmental stewardship and practices that conserve resources in a manner that allow growth and development to be sustained for the long-term without degrading the environment are indispensable in a developed society. Past, current and future advancements in road pavement coatings, as an environmentally sustainable paving material, are especially important because the quantities of asphalt and cement used annually in Europe, as well as in the U.S. and all over the world, are large. This Special Issue is aimed to demonstrate the dual value of some new coatings in regards to the environmental and mechanical performance and to suggest a low environmental impact design procedure for road surfaces. In fact, the use of eco-friendly materials is the first phase towards an eco-compatible design but it cannot be the only step. The eco-compatible approach should be extended also to the design method and material characterization because only with these phases is it possible to exploit the maximum potential properties of the used materials.

In particular, the topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Use of innovative and/or recycled materials in road surface treatments for road maintenance;
• Physical and functional characteristics of ultra-thin layers for road and airport pavements;
• Low Noise coatings, in terms of definition and certification of the acoustic qualities of road surfaces and study of compositional characteristics most suitable for the minimization of the noise in the generation process and of maximizing the absorption in the propagation phase;
• Low Vibration coatings, in terms of minimization of the contribution of the surface of the materials and components of the pavement to the phenomenon of generation of vibrations and exaltation of the effects of damping in the process of propagation through the road platform;
• Low Rolling resistance coatings, in terms of minimization of fuel consumption and tire to reach a reduction of costs for the user and the impacts on the environment;
• Low Emission coatings, in terms of innovative materials to reduce the air contaminants, such as NOx and VOC’s;
• High Visibility coatings, function of color and light absorption characteristics of the material forming the top layers and also closely related to the objectives of safety;
• High Durability coatings, defined in terms of structural strength and adequate deformation response to traffic loads. It is closely linked to the service life of the road surface. With reference to the coatings, the performance characteristic must be able to evaluate and assess the mechanical behavior—rheology of the mixture and the durability of the materials;
• High Adherence coatings, a fundamental parameter for achieving the objectives of road safety and connected directly to the compositional characteristics of the coatings and the surface texture;
• The analysis of the thermal response of different types of coatings for paved surfaces for a reduced Urban Heat Island effect in urban areas;
• Characterization of pavement surface texture using innovative techniques.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Simone
Dr. Claudio Lantieri
Guest Editors

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