Testing highway marking Paints (Essay Sample)

Testing highway marking Paints
Student's name:
Institutional affiliation
NAME
PRO ACTIVE COMPANY.
Testing new highway marking paints in Winnipeg
Prepared for
Morris Hodern
Senior principal highways engineer,
416 Inkster building 2035 Perimeter road.
Winnipeg
Prepared by
Name
Pro-Active Consultants Company
April 3, 2014
Summary
We have analyzed the most ideal paint for use in marking of highway pavement, centerlines and lanes in Winnipeg area. Seven different samples have been analyzed from six manufactures. The analysis was done by painting the samples on two regularly travelled highways that is the highway 14, 1.7 kilometers north of the intersection with highway 287 and highway 287 which is 1.2 kilometers west of the intersection with highway 14. Two different types of pavements the Asphalt surface and concrete surface were used to test the sample. The samples have been assessed on the spraying characteristics, the drying time, visibility after three months and visibility after six months.
Contents
Summary i
Contents ii
Introduction 5
Spraying characteristics 6
Drying times 7
Paint visibility after three month check 7
Paint visibility after six month check 8
Minimum acceptable visibility levels for the paints 8
Conclusion 9
Recommendation 10
References 11
Appendices 12
Testing new highway marking paints in Winnipeg
Introduction
For the past six years highway department in Winnipeg has been using a one universal Centrex CL paint to mark different highways pavement. The paint accounts for 82% of the pavement markings in Winnipeg. Recent advance in paint technology has brought several new types if paints to the market which claim to be more superior than the already used Centrex Cl paint. The Centrex inc Company has decided to use the TL paint instead of the Centrex Cl. Different samples of paints which would be used to replace the Centrex Cl paint have been analyzed on spraying characteristics, drying time and visibility after three months and six months.
In march 18 2014, Senior provincial highways engineer Morris Hodern from 416 Inkster building assigned Proactive consultants with the task of analyzing the new different paints. The analysis on the sample paints is based on the assumption that, they should be fast in drying time, they should have good spray characteristics and they should be highly visible by motorists both at night and daytime. A good paint should flow smoothly evenly without forming globules or dripping from the nozzle (Staff 2006). For the paint to be ideal with a rating of 10, it should be clearly visible at day and night with visibility distance of 500m and 200m both during the day and night. Consideration was given to applying a seal coat to the highway after about its sixth year of life as a means to extend its life and to test the sample. In the sampled paints if one becomes effective as the standard highway paint then the council will have to fully implement the ideal paint over the Centex Cl.
Spraying characteristics
In modern technology paint with additives like the retro reflective glass beads is the most ideal paint for use in highway markings. Different samples of the white and yellow paints from six different manufactures were obtained and sampled to unmarked cans, then the cans were coded as shown in appendix one. The paint stripes were painted on two different stretches of highway, the first one on concrete surface of 1.7km stretch north of highway 14, intersection with highway 27 and the other on Asphalt surface 12 km west of highway 287 intersection with highway 14.
On March 20 2014, Application of the sample stripes onto the different surfaces began using a small garden tractor. The first step before the application of the sample was to remove tiny films from the paint which could have ruined the painting job. Martin Senour's and Dupont's final Klean ( Kulsea Bill 1980) final wash product was usedto clean the painting tractor before the sampling. The different samples were mixed with primer to enable them be compatible with the paint top coat. In most highways and pavement painting primer is the most ideal product used because it ensures good quality adhesion of paint to the surface; it also increases the paint durability as well as protection of the painted surface from easy wear, either by rain or by the moving vehicles. To measure motorist's perception concerning the new paint markings, survey was conducted using data coding whereby as seen in the Appendices, appendix two shows the ratings of the different samples. With WA, WB, WC, WD, WF, YL, YR turning out to be the very good in spraying characteristics.
Drying times
With factors such as temperature, humidity and precipitation kept constant, ROADMARK paint yellow sample took the least drying time, with only 12 minutes. The often used Centrex CL lasted for 16 and 13 minutes to fully dry up for both white and yellow paints. The Centrex CL, average drying time of 14.5m. This indicated that motorists had to wait for a longer period for the Centrex CL paint to fully dry as compared with the ROADMARK paint from Wishart Incorporated, company which had an average drying time of 12 minutes.
Paint visibility after three month check
The different can paint ratings for both white and yellow samples are shown in appendix three. Three months after application five drivers were used in to assess the visibility on 1 -10 scale of the stripes in both day and night. Effective analysis was based on the fact that brighter markings add value to motorists (Staff 2006). Readings were taken when the testing vehicle headlights were at high beam. After a three month check the survey indicated paint code WA the white old paint (CL) was visible at 400m during the day and 160m during the night while on the Asphalt surface it is visible at400m at daytime and 180m visibility during the night. The yellow sample visibility was 400m during the day and 180m during the night on the concrete model. The Asphalt pavement markings were clearly visible at 450m at day time and 1800m at night.
The new paint TL the white sample (WG) achieved 7 scale 500m visible during the night with 140m visible during the night. On the Asphalt pavement the WG paint, visible distance was 500 during the day and 160m visibility at night. The yellow sample of the TL paint, visibility was ideal at 450m during the day on the concrete surface and 180m visible during the night. The Asphalt surface visibility was at 450m during the day and 180m during the night.
Paint visibility after six month paint check
Centrex CL paint white sample visibility was at 400m during the day and 120m visible during the night on the concrete surface while on the Asphalt surface, distance visible was 250m at daytime and 140m visible during the night. The yellow sample, distance was 300m and 140m day and night respectively. The Asphalt pavement, distance visible was 350m at day and 160m at night.
The TL paint visibility on the concrete pavement was 300m at daytime and 140m during nighttime, while on the Asphalt pavement visibility was 350m at day and 160m at night. The Asphalt surface had 350m and 160m visible during the day and night respectively.
Minimum acceptable visibility levels for the paints
Appendix 4 and 5 shows the minimum acceptable visibility levels of the paints after three months and six months. Appendix 4 shows paint type 81 238 yellow paint (YQ) was the most worn out after three months of tear with the least acceptable visibility levels.
After six months of wear the white paint 909 from Novell Pain Ltd, yellow paint ROADMARK 13 from Wishart Incorporated and yellow 81 238 from Provincial Paint Company were the most worn out with minimal acceptable visibility levels.
Conclusion
YR TL yellow, the ‘new' paint turned to be the best paint for use because it has high visibility distance, the required drying time with a margin of -5 and the spraying characteristics are excellent. With visibility average of 320m and 290m on both concrete and Asphalt surfaces after 3 months and 6 months of paint respectively.
WC HILITE white paint from Hi linear products, turned out to be the most ideal paint with the highest visibility distance on the white paint category. Average distance was 315m after three month paint check and 297m after six month paint check.
Recommendations
Centrex Inc yellow new paint TL would be more useful than the white paint. From the analysis we can see that even after 6 months of wear the paint still highly visible. The department of highway should use the Centrex Inc Yellow paint and the WC HILITE white paint for marking of highway pavement centerlines and lanes.
References
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