Learn all about the paint that makes road striping lines—thermoplastic paint!
No matter where you go, chances are the roads you’ll drive on are marked with white and yellow lines. Referred to as road striping, these lines delineate where you can and can’t drive on the road. Made with bright yellow and white paint that contrasts nicely with the road, they are usually reflective to help with driving at night. The contrast and high visibility of road striping is thanks to thermoplastic paint, a special powder paint that offers a host of benefits, making it perfect for use as road striping.
The Makeup of Thermoplastic Paint
Thermoplastic paint, or hot melt marking paint as it’s also called, is made up of powdered pigments and resins, plus other additives. The mixture is heated to nearly 400 degrees Fahrenheit to make it liquid and is then sprayed onto the road by a special machine in whatever road striping design is needed. Yellow pigments are made with yellow lead and white with titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and others. Oftentimes, glass beads are also added to the mixture to give the painted striping a skid-resistant surface and to add reflectivity and durability.
Once dried, thermoplastic paint becomes a hard polymer that offers many benefits.
Benefits of Thermoplastic Paint
There are numerous benefits of thermoplastic paint that make it perfect for use as road striping. Benefits include:
- It dries quickly. As with all road work, any maintenance or work to a road that can be done quickly (and thus keeping roads from being closed for a long period of time) is a highly desirable option.
- It is an excellent adhesive. Once dried, the thermoplastic paint becomes a polymer that is an excellent adhesive. The line striping stays in place for a very long time.
- It is durable. Thermoplastic paint is resistant to fading, cracking, peeling, flaking, and wearing away. It lasts a long time before it needs to be applied again, even in areas with hot weather and a lot of rain, like Florida.
- It is reflective. Thermoplastic paint offers long-lasting bright colors during the day and reflective surfaces during the night and during bad weather.
Tucker Paving has more than 25 years of experience in the concrete and asphalt paving construction industry, and we offer sealcoating, pavement resurfacing, striping and restriping, and asphalt repair and replacement. Call us at (863) 299-2262, or contact us online, for your next project!
