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Road Accidents and AMITEK Road Marking Paints

Connection, Standards, Technology & About the company & Industry.

Road marking paints are not decorative paints. The only purpose of these paints is to provide drivers direction and retro-reflectivity at night to avoid accidents. Roads that are not marked properly with the right quantity and right quality of Road Marking Paints are bound to have more accidents as per global data study on road safety. Not only the poor quality of markings or lack of properly marked road will lead to more accidents but also will lead to Chaos on the roads ultimately resulting in more injuries and loss of life. 

These are the Types of Road Marking Paints normally used on Roads:

1. Hot Melt Thermo Plastic Road Marking Compound that comes in powder form: This is the most durable and recommended product especially on high traffic roads. It is used to mark centre lines, edge lines, Zebras etc on both bitumen & concrete Roads. Thermoplastic Road markings give the maximum life to the markings. Primer is used on concrete roads before applying this to ensure proper adhesion. Primers are not required on bitumen surfaces.  Thermoplastic road marking material comes in Yellow and white colour. Thermoplastic road-marking materials consist of binders, pigment, polymers, fillers and intermix glass beads. 

2. Water Base Kerb Marking Paints: Comes in white, black, and yellow colours. This is the best solution for marking kerbs which are concrete structures/barriers/dividers in the centre of the roads and along the sides of the roads. At times it has been seen that companies and consultants are using enamel paints on kerbs, it might be giving more gloss but ultimately enamel is the product for metal surfaces not for concrete surfaces. Enamel if used on concrete will peel off soon or will start showing cracks fast.  

3. Water Base Road Marking Paints: These are commonly used in developed countries to mark low traffic areas to mark all centre, edge & zebras. Low traffic roads are marked using this as the life of the product is short as compared to Thermoplastic Road Marking Paint. 

On concrete roads, water base road marking paints will perform better than thermoplastic road marking paints.

4. Enamel Paints to Mark Metal Surfaces: This again comes in white, black & yellow colours. This is used to mark all metal barriers structures on roads normally created on dividers or roadside.

5. Epoxy & PU Coatings ( Two-Component ) for metal surfaces: Expensive technology as compared to enamel but used where metal structures, their coatings, gloss and colour needs to be protected for a much longer duration. Clients prefer to go for epoxy coatings on guard rails to ensure the life of the structures.

Govt. Standards

Ministry of Road Transport India has laid down specific rules and regulations and guidelines both on the quality and quantity of right “Road Marking Paints” to be used. These standards are referred to as “MOST standards” in general terms. It is the moral responsibility of all Road Authorities, Road Construction Companies & Contractors must make sure that the material getting applied, its quality and quantity all should conform to Indian Standards “MOST” when applying thermoplastic road marking compound. Also, the authorities to ensure that “water base kerb marking paint” getting applied is also falling in line to “INDIAN STANDARDS” which are also loud and clear.

The contributing factors to the high number of road accident fatalities are human factors, vehicle factors, road factors and environmental factors. The highest percentage of road accidents occur at night thus it should be ensured that road markings should give required retro-reflectivity as per standard in order to guide the road user right idea about the directions and kerbs. It may not necessarily be that the road accidents have occurred as a result of defective road markings, but as road authorities have a certain degree of control over road markings, the authorities should ensure that the markings are continuously maintained to the required standards to eliminate road markings as a possible cause of accidents.

THERMOPLASTIC ROAD MARKING MATERIAL COMPONENTS & APPLICATION METHOD:

This product needs to be heated in a thermostatically controlled pre-heater or boiler at a temperature of 180°C and agitated continuously until a homogenised liquid is achieved, before transferring it to an application vehicle. The hot melted liquid is applied onto the road surface with drop-on glass beads added on top to produce high initial RL as may be stipulated in the specifications of the road authority. The material usually dries within a short space of time which is less than 15 mints as per MOST.

Glass beads Application Method and Importance

Road markings must be applied with glass beads on roads where RL is required. The retroreflection of road markings in wet or rainy conditions is much lower than in dry conditions, and as such, the road markings should be enhanced with special properties to improve the RL (BS EN 2007). Drop-on glass beads are applied to the surface of both thermoplastic markings and liquid paint markings through a bead dispenser which should be an integral part of any paint sprayer. Glass beads are fed onto the paint by means of a mechanical process or by gravity. Thermoplastic road markings also contain intermix beads which become exposed as the surface of the thermoplastic wears off, thereby producing RL throughout most of its service life. The added advantage of glass beads is that it provides skid resistance. The important properties of glass beads to be analysed in order for the beads to perform optimally include gradation, refractive index, roundness clarity and coating.

As we have understood that “Retro reflectivity of road marking paints” is the key purpose of using road marking paints. Measurement for Retro reflectivity is done in MCD. The minimum RL for white and yellow road markings requirements are clearly mentioned in standards. There are other important parameters that road markings should conform to, such as Qd, colour, and skid resistance. The tools to measure retro-reflectivity are available in the market to get quick answers on retro-reflectivity.

Binder

Binder is the constituent and combinations of resins and adhesives that provides adhesion to the road surface and the other constituents (the pigments, fillers and glass beads). An effective road marking system requires not only quality glass beads but also a quality binder. If either part of the road marking system is not good, or they are not installed properly, then the road marking system will not perform the way it is required to perform. 

Pigments & Fillers 

The pigment is a fine powder added primarily to impart colour and opacity to the mixture. Fillers is a powder added to assist the dispersion of the pigment, thereby providing colour uniformity throughout the mix. Poor quality of fillers and pigments again can spoil the whole game.

APPLICATION OF THERMOPLASTIC ROAD MARKING MATERIALS

Please note in India only technology that is popular is Extruded / Screed. This is applied by mobile equipment. It is usually applied at a thickness of 2.5 mm in India. 

Why Amitek

1. Indian government has recognised AMITEK as the fastest-growing company in the export sector of Road Marking Paints.

2. AMITEK holds 60% of India's total export of Road Marking Paints in the year 2019 – 20

3. AMITEK fully automatic manufacturing plant in Jaipur and professional teammate in production, product development & in all departments provide required consistency in quality of product and its delivery.

4. Most important quality at the right prices with good services is the simple mantra at AMITEK.

"Readers can directly contact the writer for more technical information on the matter”

Amit Bhargava 

Director, Amitek Infra P Ltd.

Mobile  : + 91 9352850707

Email: sales@amitekinfra.com