Thermoplastic Road Marking

[BigH]

We are putting thermoplastic road marking on concrete of a toll plaza area. Work-time temperatures are +37degC with relative humidity of about 60 to 95%. Monsoon not yet started but it is raining some twice a week. Concrete is some 1.8 years old but has not been “used” as yet. During marking, we have found that we are getting very fine micro-bubbles coming up through the marking when we have used a primer that has been formulated for concrete road surfaces. Primer has dried for more than an hour before marking. Primer applied with a brush and the pavement structure has been tyned transversely to the marking. We have a density of, say 4 – 6 bubbles (pin point prick size) in a 150mm wide per 150mm to 200mm length. We get no bubbles if we put the marking directly on the concrete without primer. It must be either trapped moisture or trapped air humidity or the primer having some residual liquid – but two hours of drying should be okay – actually, I saw the bubbles today and the primer had dried for more than 12 hours. Any thoughts? Seriousness?

 

[jheidt2543]

BigH:

Have you used these materials before? With what success?

Who makes the primer and the thermoplastic marking? Have you tried their Technical Services Department? Are they willing to send out a rep. to inspect the inplace installation? If not, maybe you can get a response from them on the web?

Have you measured the moisture content of the concrete?

Lots of questions, but it is a place to start.

 

[BigH]

jheidt2543 - reputable manufacturers - one of biggest in South Asia. Pavement is dry - or damn close. I have asked them to use tigre torch before primer to see if there would be any difference. Thanks for your response, mon ami.