Grave emulsion and cold mix are the Bound Graded Aggregates.
The history of these mixtures begins in the early 1900s with the main objective of small jobs and maintenance. As the years went by, the emulsion bass evolved. The grave emulsion and cold mixes are today an essential alternative to hot techniques, and continue to evolve rapidly.
In spite of a lower resistance than the graded aggregates bound with cementitious binders, the grave emulsion have undeniable assets: self-repair, stockability, flexibility, ...
The grave emulsions are used in road maintenance and in new constructions according to the conditions of traffic.
The main criteria are the grain size curve, the flexibility of the structure, the resistance and its evolution, void index, waterproofing, implementation and transportability.
With the evolution of the mechanical performances and the environmental constraints (reuse of the RAP, CO2 emission, ...), the grave emulsions evolved and are now decomposed into subgroups like the cold-dense mixes (for layer of rolling) or grave open emulsions.
Production techniques have also evolved to achieve the most advanced mixtures. One of the latest developments is the double coating.
SAE has several products ranges of various cold mix plants to produce complex gravels of any kind.