How Does a Road Paver Work?
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Road pavers, the massive machines that actually spread asphalt over a given area of highway, are extremely powerful tools. Like many pieces of heavy machinery, they may seem incomprehensible and archaic at a glance. However, the way these machines work is actually fairly simple once you take a closer look at the process. The beginning of the process is to make sure that the paver is fully loaded with asphalt material. A dump truck will come up to the hopper in the back of the road paver and fill it with the asphalt material that will be spread onto the road's surface.
Heating and Dispersing
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After the road paver is loaded, the material is moved automatically from the hopper and through what's called the auger channel. A massive auger (a large, turning screw) churns the material, which is being heated as it goes through the channel. The auger also serves the function of spreading the material (often referred to as scree once it's been heated up to temperatures of 300 degrees or more) out into a relatively even dispersion across the hopper in the front of the road paver. Once this part of the process is complete, the material is ready to be laid.
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Laying and Flattening
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The last step in the process of a road paver's job is to actually lay down the heated scree. While the auger continues to disperse, the already-spread material is being laid down in a wide line by the front hopper. As the lane of scree is laid down, the bulk of the road paver will drive over it, flattening out the lane even further. A road paver moves extremely slowly, which means that the road can be carefully laid down and flattened. It also means that a separate road crew can follow along behind on foot to fix any mistakes, although they do have to wait until the asphalt is significantly cooler than it is when it first leaves the road paver's front hopper.
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