Roofing and paving asphalts are manufactured during the refining and re-refining process. Therefore, there is little difference between the two products. However, the paving industry views roofing asphalt as an exotic blend of light sweet (low in sulfur) and heavy sour (high in sulfur) crudes but this is not the case. Roofing and paving asphalt are bottom material from the vacuum distillation unit. The primary difference is that roofing flux is a softer, higher penetration material than paving asphalt.
Standard Testing:
The roofing manufacturers have adopted standardized tests for roofing asphalt. The tests for characterizing the properties of roofing asphalt include:
- Penetration (D 5, Test Method for Penetration of Bituminous Materials)
- Softening Point (D 36, Test Method for Softening Point of Bitumen)
- Flash Points (D 92, Test Method for Ductility of Bituminous Materials)
Applications:
The three basic types of roofing asphalt are:
- Coating-grade asphalt - an oxidized asphalt used to manufacture roofing materials for a variety of roofing systems such as asphalt shingles
- Mopping-grade asphalt - an oxidized asphalt that is melted and used in the construction of built-up modified asphalt systems
- Saturant-grade asphalt - a non-oxidized asphalt used to manufacture roofing materials for a variety of roofing systems, such as asphalt shingles, polymer-modified asphalt roofing, reinforcing and underlayment felts, and roll roofing
Asphalt shingles and certain roll roofings fall into the “prepared” category. They consist of a base of asphalt saturated felt with an added asphalt coating and usually a surface of mineral granules. For built up roofing, the components are manufactured and delivered to the job. The roofing itself is built up directly on the roof deck in a series of layers or plies.
Roofing Flux Products
Some of our roofing flux products include:
- Penetrations: 130 to 600 Pen
- Roofing Blending Components