When it comes to the fundamental stability of aggregates, recycled pavement mixtures, and soils, it is the variations in their water content that is the common denominator governing the engineering properties of each material. The most direct and cost-effective route to stabilizing these materials is to stabilize their moisture content. Materials that lose strength as their water content increases are known as being moisture susceptible. These same moisture susceptible materials would also be classified as being frost susceptible if they were being placed in a Cold Region or High Altitude location known for extended periods of temperatures below freezing. The most profound benefits offered by EMC SQUARED System stabilizers are realized in the effective treatment of materials that have moisture and frost susceptibility problems. When the moisture content of these materials can be maintained in a “near optimum” state, the material retains its highest possible strength values throughout the year. In the case of expansive clay soils, the fact that soils treated with applications of EMC SQUARED System stabilizers are no longer soaking up rainwater from above or sucking up groundwater from below via capillary action means there are no variations in moisture content to drive volume changes that otherwise would manifest as swelling and shrinking.

Presented below are two projects where the service life of heavy duty pavement structural sections has been extended by design engineers who specified EMC SQUARED System treatments specifically for the purpose of functioning as permanent moisture barriers underneath the pavements. Whether the treatment of moisture susceptible soils was specified specifically for Moisture Barrier performance or as a stabilized subgrade, all of the case studies provided below that feature paved road or paved highway projects demonstrated moisture barrier performance during the period of time when they functioned as all-weather working platforms for the contractors, shedding rainfall events and supporting haul trucks and the heavy construction equipment involved in placing base course and pavement materials.

Finally, presented below are case studies of projects where EMC SQUARED System treatments were applied for long term stabilization of soils and also for aggregates or recycled materials that have functioned as all-weather running surfaces that shed water and supported heavy loads during wet weather conditions. Moisture Barrier performance could not be any more obvious than in these case studies of unpaved projects that perform without the additional protection of asphalt or concrete surfacing.