4/2/2018 When is a Tack Coat Necessary?

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When is a Tack Coat Necessary?

We have all seen areas of spalled pavement, with older layers of
asphalt concrete showing through. They may not all be as bad as the
example below, but they certainly make it rough going for drivers,
driving up vehicle operating expenses. What causes the spalling?

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Weather and traffic play a role, but the root cause is the lack of a tack
coat prior to construction of the overlay. A tack coat is used to help the Tech Tips
overlay adhere to the underlying, weathered pavement surface.
Quick Answers
Normally, when a new layer of hot-mix or coldmix asphalt is placed,
the surface of every rock and grain of sand is uniformly coated with a All Info by Topic
film of asphalt. The initial film thickness is only a couple thousandths
of an inch thick. Over time, sunlight hardens the surface films and
makes the asphalt less sticky. Traffic abrades the surface, and water
Videos
helps to remove the coating. In one or two years the asphalt film is
worn off the surface, leaving the aggregate exposed. Books
From that point forward, there is nothing there to bond a new layer of Software
asphalt concrete to the old one. A tack coat replaces the worn away
asphalt and promotes bonding with the old pavement. Resources
What is a “Tack Coat?”

A tack coat is sprayed on the surface of an existing asphalt or

concrete pavement by a distributor truck immediately prior to placing
an overlay. The goal is to achieve uniform coverage over the entire
surface to be paved. Once the tack coat is in place it should be given
time to cure and become tacky. Normally this would only require a few
minutes. Follow @local_roads

Traffic should NOT be allowed on a tack coat, to avoid getting dust

and dirt on the surface.
This work by the Cornell Local Roads Program
Until a few years ago the most commonly used material for tack coats (CLRP) is licensed under a Creative Commons
was MS-30 or MS-70 cutback asphalt. Today, in many areas the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
environmental agencies no longer allow cutbacks to be used due to a Unported License.
concern about the hydrocarbons they contain, such as kerosene,
which evaporate into the atmosphere. A satisfactory substitute for
cutbacks was not easy to find. Some companies have developed
proprietary compounds, based on resins or less volatile hydrocarbons.
Many of these work quite well.

Today most state DOT Standard Specifications have requirements for

tack coat materials, their method of application, and payment. These
usually involve the use of diluted asphalt emulsions. In Section 702 of

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4/2/2018 When is a Tack Coat Necessary?
the 2008 NYSDOT Standard Specifications, subsection 6, Table 702-9
lists the approved grades of anionic and cationic asphalt emulsions for
use in tack coats. Table 702-10 lists the required composition. All of
the grades incorporate hard base asphalt. The anionic grades are
slightly preferred where limestone and dolomitic aggregates are
exposed on the old road surface. Cationic grades would be preferred
for all other aggregate types.

To meet the requirements of Table 702-10 the asphalt emulsion is

diluted 50-50 with water. The pavement surface should be thoroughly
cleaned by brooming prior to the placement of a tack coat. The
application rate varies with the type of surface being treated.
Recommended application rates and construction details are
described in Section 407 of the 2008 NYSDOT Standard
Specifications.

NYSDOT specifications can be downloaded here

This photo shows a four-inch

diameter core hole in an older
asphalt concrete surface. The
black tack coat is clearly visible
at the interface between the top
layer and an old asphalt
concrete layer below. The heat
generated during the coring
probably melted the tack coat, causing it to smear over the core hole
and appear thicker than it really is. The properly applied tack coat has
bonded the upper layer to the lower one.

Too much tack coat can cause more problems than it solves. It cures
slowly, delaying paving and causing prolonged traffic congestion. It
puddles in the low areas. Too much tack can actually foster slippage
between the layers that are supposed to be bonded. It is important to
use the proper material at the proper application rate for the pavement
conditions.

How to Decide Whether a Tack Coat is Needed

Most standard specifications tell you what to do after you have

decided that a tack coat is necessary. But how do you make that
decision?

Some agencies say that tack coats are cheap insurance and should
be used in nearly all circumstances. Others recognize that when a
thick overlay is placed (say, four inches or more) it may be possible to
skip the tack coat. However, as the layer thickness goes up, the
percentage of the job cost that goes into the tack coat becomes
inconsequential, so I tend to agree with the “all circumstances” point of
view.

The photo above shows a state highway where two one-inch HMAC
overlays were placed about 10 years apart. Tack coats were not used
for either overlay. A few months after the more recent construction,
surface raveling began to appear in the outer wheelpath. Wetness
during late spring accelerated the stripping, and both overlays were
completely removed in a matter of days.

Needless to say, it was a teeth-jarring experience to hit the defect at

highway speed.

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4/2/2018 When is a Tack Coat Necessary?
How Can You Repair the Raveled Pavement?

An isolated problem, as in the last picture, is easy to repair using

proper techniques for a permanent pothole patch. Wait for good
weather; square up the hole and dry it out; prime the bottom and sides
with asphalt emulsion; fill the hole with hot-mix; and compact it
thoroughly. The area is structurally sound, so all you need to do is
repair the defect.

For a more extensive problem, as in the first photo, a more costly

repair is needed to be effective. A cursory repair may solve the
problem for a short period of time, but it will eventually come right back
and continue to spread. Careful examination of the photo shows that
perhaps as many as three skin patches have been applied, and all of
them are raveling.

A permanent repair will require a structural overlay or removal and

replacement of all of the asphalt below the depth of the ravelling. This
would be two or three inches of hot-mix as a minimum. First the entire
area should be thoroughly cleaned with a rotary broom. Then a tack
coat is applied. To fill the depressions, a truing and leveling (T&L)
course is applied and thoroughly compacted. Then the structural
overlay is placed, preferably on the same day as the T&L course. If
traffic is allowed on the T&L course, a new tack coat is needed before
placing the overlay.

Why use the T&L course? If you only put down the overlay, some
areas of the uncompacted mat will be thicker than others. During
compaction, the thicker areas will compact more than the thinner
areas. This will leave a rippled effect on the surface, mimicking the
raveled surface. If the T&L course is applied first, both the
uncompacted and the compacted overlay will be of uniform thickness,
and the rippling will be avoided.

Note that a tack coat was required during the repair. Had it been used
during the original overlay construction, the raveling could have been
prevented, and the cost of the more extensive repair might have been
avoided entirely.

Tack coats don’t cost much, but they perform a very valuable function.
Generally speaking, you don’t save money in the long run when you
skip that step. So when you are paving over an old, weathered
surface, use a tack coat!
Summer 2009

416 Riley-Robb Hall / Ithaca, NY 14853 / phone: 607-255-8033 / fax: 607-255-4080 / email: clrp@cornell.edu

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