SPRING 2025 NEWS
STABILISATION OF UNSEALED ROADS AT HENTY
Greater Hume Council (GHC) has carried out Polychlor Omega adhesive stabilisation of roads around Henty NSW. The local unsealed roads at Henty are subjected to extreme traffic around the time of the Henty Field Days every September, when up to 60,000 visitors attend the Henty Machinery Field Days (HMFD). The HMFD is Australia's biggest agribusiness event attracting 870 exhibitors to the 105 Ha site.
Kreutzberger's Road was stabilised using Polychlor Omega
GHC took action to ensure that the impact of the large volumes of traffic arriving at the field days was minimal by stabilisation and surface treatment of the local unsealed roads with Polychlor Omega adhesive stabiliser.
The Pavement Wear Tester has been essential to confirm effective adhesion of Polychlor Omega in the Greater Hume road materials
The project has been very successful with no damage and no dust reported despite the extreme traffic conditions. Treatment with Polychlor Omega has also provided long lasting resistance to pavement damage from wet conditions.
As part of the Polychlor Omega works at GHC, testing of two gravels was completed. One of the gravels tested was found to be unsuitable for Polychlor Omega treatment. Identifying materials that are unsuitable through laboratory testing is much more economical than testing materials by field trials. For more information about having your gravels tested for suitability please contact us.
Henty Field Days, Australia's biggest agricultural event
Use of the Pavement Wear Tester, UCS and RMS T133 test method have been essential for the decision making process for the Polychlor Omega stabilisation carried out by Greater Hume Council.
Testing of the Kreutzberger Road material using RMS T133 method
For more information about our products and testing capabilities please contact us - sales@five-elements.com.au
AUTUMN 2025 NEWS
SURFACE APPLICATION OF POLYCHLOR OMEGA AT MANJIMUP COUNCIL WA
In March 2025 Polychlor was applied to rural roads around Walpole WA. The client's main concerns on these roads is that the low plasticity materials have a tendency to corrugate and unravel.
Blending Polychlor Omega into the water tanker
Prior to works the materials were analysed using Austroads Perforamnce Based Analysis to confirm the issues and make the most appropriate reccommendation for product application options.
Polychlor Omega was chosen as the most appropriate treatment option considering the low shrinkage and plasticity of the road base.
Surface application was chosen as the most appropriate treatment option. Surface application is a means of keeping the dosage rate down to reduce costs. Surface treatment keeps the adhesive treatment in the material that has to be protected the most, the roadsurface.
Three different dosage rates were trialed and the treated areas are now being monitored by Council to determine the most appropriate dosage rate for future applications.
Application of Polychlor solution to the surface of North Walpole Road
The Austroads Performance Based Analysis confirmed that the material grading and low shrinkage was causing the corrugationa dn raveling issues.
SUMMER 2025 NEWS
FIFTH ELEMENT LABORATORIES DEVELOPS AND PATENTS PAVEMENT WEAR TESTER
Fifth Elements Laboratories has developed and patented a Pavement Wear Tester (PWT). This is the only test method currently available to measure how well a pavement material performs in dry conditions. The test is able to make comparisons between various materials and also demonstrate that the wear resistance is improved with treatment.
The pavement wear tester during a test
The machine operates on the principal of a constant force pushing a standard compaction cylinder against a wire brush that rotates at constant speed. The time to wear the cylinder down is recorded and also the cylinder change in length is recorded to give a wear resistance score (WRS).
The wear tester has shown that the wear resistance of gravels for unsealed roads can be increased significantly with treatment using Polychlor or Polytahr.
Following is an example of the increase in wear resistance after treatment
Treatment: Polytahr
Material: Sandstone gravel
Control WRS: 118
Treated WRS: 195
Treated and control cylinders are covered during curing. The curing process is tightly control to ensure consistency of the testing procedure.
Following is a video of the pavement wear tester describing how it functions.
This video shows how the Pavement Wear Tester works to calculate the Wear Resistance Score (WRS)
WINTER 2024 NEWS
NATIONAL TRANSPORT RESEARCH ORGANISATION ISSUES INTERIM TRANSPORT INDUSTRY PRODUCT EVALUATION SCHEME (TIPES) CERTIFICATE FOR POLYCHLOR OMEGA
Polychlor Omega has been assessed ender the National Transport Research Organisation's (NTRO) Transport Industry Product Evaluation Scheme (TIPES) assessment program.,
NTRO's TIPES assessment is a means for assessment of new technologies in the transport industry sector that do not come under the umbrella of existing standards. The TIPES assessment has been carried out by a product specific Product Evaluation Panel composed of the relevant industry experts from NTRO and the state road authorities.
The assessment of Polychlor Omega has substansiated that Polychlor Omega is effective for stabilisation of unsealed pavements and unsealed shoulders particularly;
- Increasing the CBR of the wearing course material
- Significantly reducing erosion and pavement loss
- Significant reduction of dust emissions
The assessment is intended to provide our customers with a high level of assurace of the product virtues of Polychlor Omega. The final certificate for Polychlopr Omega will be obtained in the coming 12 months after further field trial assessment. To view the interim certificate click the link to the right.
LINK TO VIEW FULL CERTIFICATE
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TIPES Certificate (interim) - Polychlor.pdf Size : 556.687 Kb Type : pdf |
Lobster fishing communities on the smal islands near East Wallabi Island
Are your residents frustrated with the condition of unsealed roads? You might like to consider using products from Five Elements to improve your road infrastructure service levels. Contact us on 07 39107102