Road markings are essential for guiding road users and other motorists. They can be applied in public roads, school roads, and other facilities. You should look for the best company doing road marking. There is a wide range of materials that can be used for this task. We will look at some of them in this article.

Paints and Enamels

This is the most traditional road marking material. They are impact and abrasion-resistant. The service life of such markings is about a year. Another important parameter is the drying speed, which ranges from 15 minutes to half an hour. This is especially important on busy highways. The third important parameter is resistance to adverse weather and climatic conditions. It is important to mention the low cost of this material. Road marking paint is used:

• on highways and autodromes;
• as markings in warehouses;
• as a separator of parking spaces and a mark for disabled parking;
• at airfields;
• for marking the territory in military units;
• as markings in areas near schools and kindergartens;
• marking of cycle paths.

The paint is applied to the previously cleaned surface. For the most part, this type of coating does not require preliminary heating of the surface, but there are exceptions. It is customary to use cold trains in places where traffic is most intense.

Thermoplastic

Hot plastic, also called thermoplastic, is a multi-component mixture that needs to be heated and kneaded before being applied. Reflective beads may also be included in the mixture. There are polyester and petroleum polymer blends. In general, this coating also belongs to modern materials with increased durability and long service life.

Since thermoplastic does not contain solvents, it must be warmed to 150-220 ° C before application. Then the plastic is stirred in a special container until a homogeneous consistency is achieved and checked for viscosity according to a special table of values. Thermoplastic can be applied in different ways:

• gravitational;
• by extrusion;
• manually using ready-made forms;
• using a pneumatic spray tool.

What Material to Choose for Applying Road Markings

The choice of material for road marking is based on several factors:

• traffic intensity;
• The width of the line;
• a kind of markup;
• the rate of destruction of the markings in a specific area;
• quality and type of road surface;
• how the road surface is maintained.

The methodological manuals for choosing a road marking material also consider weather conditions, material consumption per square meter, density, and thickness of the material layer.

Road enamels and paints are cheaper and do not require any special equipment. However, their service life is shorter than that of more modern materials. Painted road markings must be renewed at least once a year. The plastic coating has better performance properties, wider possibilities, and longer service life, but at the same time, it requires large financial investments and special mixing and application technologies.…