ACC introduces new topping for concrete roads

ACC Concrete, a division of ACC Limited has introduced two new solutions, UTWT24 and Speedcrete, for instant road surface overlay and repair in India. The two solutions were launched at a live demonstration of overlaying these solutions at the ACC Thane complex near Mumbai. The demo-seminar showcased live the process of how UTWT 24 and Speedcrete can speed up the overlay of pavement within a short time. UTWT 24 and Speedcrete are high performance overlays laid in depths ranging from 100 – 150 mm for concrete road sections. UTWT24 allows roads to be opened within 24 hours from the time of application and Speedcrete does it in eight hours. Hans Fuchs, CEO, ACC Concrete, while inaugurating the seminar, said, ?Right processes need to be in place to assure quality of roads, especially in monsoons. UTWT24 and Speedcrete could be quite useful in this situation by providing instant road repair solutions?.

P L Bongirwar, former Joint Managing Director, MSRDC and presently advisor to Larsen & Toubro, noted that though UTWT (Ultra Thin White Topping) technology was being discussed even 15 years ago, it was not feasible at that time. ?Now the technology is commonly thought of as applicable to low traffic volume urban roads but there was nothing that stopped it from being applied to high density roads. In fact Nagpur has applied the technology to medium traffic density roads,? he said. Also studies could be done whether UTWT could also be applied to new roads instead of being restricted to damaged black top roads. Vinod Kumar, Senior Scientist, CRRI (Central Road Research Institute), said that during the overlay of concrete roads, quality was important. ?Ideally, concrete grade of M40 should be used and under no circumstances this should be less than M30,? he observed.