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ANTI-SKID or SKID RESISTANT (HIGH FRICTION  PROCESSES)

Anti Skid

Anti Skid can save lives and reduce the risk of serious injuries on all classes of highway. On walkways, footbridges or other pedestrian areas, reducing slip hazards can improve safety. Anti Skid can also reduce the potential for accident and third party claims in the workplace. Anti Skid may also be pigmented.

Glendining Highways is a British Board of Agrement accredited Installer (No 3736) of Anti Skid.. Anti Skid Surfacing is also known as High Friction Surfacing and the British Board of Agrement (BBA) assess products and the performance of BBA Approved Installers.

Anti Skid from Glendining Highways is available from two product groups. Epoxy Resin Anti Skid (two component resins, surface dressed with calcined bauxite aggregate) and Thermoplastic Anti Skid (blended molten resins and calcined bauxite aggregates, hot screed applied).

Calcined Bauxite is an industrially manufactured aggregate which is crushed from Bauxite (an aluminium ore) which is then heat treated to harden it. Predominantly, it is imported from China in Buff of Grey.

Coloured Anti Skid is available where the highest skid resistance is required in combination with surface pigmentation. The best colour performance is achieved when using proprietary Coloured Surfacing.

There are two processes employed to produce skid resistant (high friction) surfaces for sites with known skidding and braking problems. Both processes use calcined bauxite as the high Polished Stone Value (PSV) aggregate. Calcined bauxite is also an extremely hard aggregate and retains the "sharp" edges and facets produced at the time of crushing for the life of the treatment, this property greatly enhances the skid resistant properties of these surfaces over the use of natural aggregates. However one process uses a thermoplastic resin, i.e. when it is hot it is liquid and can be screeded on to the road surface along with the calcined bauxite aggregate contained within the resin mixture. The second process uses a thermosetting binder which is produced by mixing separate resin components just prior to laying, and the separate calcined bauxite aggregate is applied to the resin before it begins to set.

The Material

The high friction material comes ready blended in polythene bags. The resin used is thermoplastic, i.e. it is plastic when hot and able to be screeded, but on cooling to ambient temperature becomes solid. The coarse aggregate will be calcined bauxite, usually of RASC quality in the better products. This type of product can be supplied as a coloured material i.e. including a suitable type and amount of pigment.

The Heating Process

The material is heated in a thermostatically controlled "pot". The material should not be overheated, maximum temperatures are usually printed on the bag. Nor should the material be kept at high temperatures for long periods of time. The above practices will harden and embrittle the thermoplastic and reduce the durability of the high friction surfacing. Check that the heating pots are functioning correctly, and it does not hurt to check the temperature of the material on discharge from time to time.

The Laying Process

The material is poured into an open bottomed rectangular "shoe" and screeded across the road lane. The thickness of the surfacing is approximately equal to the nominal size of the coarse aggregate. It is best to avoid laying it too thick as the coarse aggregate will be "lost" in the resin / filler matrix, and skid resistance will be impaired.

Although this system is regarded as less durable than systems that apply the resin and aggregate separately it is a lot less weather dependent, and can be opened to traffic within ten to fifteen minutes of the last screed being laid, which can be important. It is my belief that a great deal of the failure attributable to this system is due to overheating the material.

It goes without saying that quality of workmanship, and supervision, is paramount with hot and cold applied systems.

COLD APPLIED SKID RESISTANT / HIGH FRICTION SURFACING

The Material

There are a number of proprietary formulations of resin on the market today that arrive in various types of pre-packaged systems. The appropriate packages are combined together according to the manufacturers instructions and mixed thoroughly. The resins are usually epoxy or polyurethane based. All resin formulations are not equal, ask questions, know what you are buying.

Mixing the Material

Believe it or not a dustbin is usually the most convenient container for mixing the resins, with a paddle type mixer on an industrial drill providing the mixing.

Applying the Resin

Once the the resin is mixed you will only have a certain length of time for it to be spread and the surface aggregate applied before an initial set starts to take place. The resin is squeeged to the appropriate spread rate by hand.

Spreading the Pigmented Calcined Bauxite

The high PSV aggregate, usually calcined bauxite of RASC quality, is spread by hand to give slightly in excess of what is needed to give shoulder to shoulder cover of the resin. The excess will be swept off after the resin has set and is retaining all the aggregate which it is in contact with. In these photographs the calcined bauxite was pigmented, which is not often a long term solution to providing a coloured surface. Even in good weather resins of this type usually take at least three hours to set completely, in cool weather it can take a lot longer, and this can present traffic management problems.

Applied to existing surfaces prepared as required

small isolated areas not less than 15m2;                                £32.00/m2

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