ISSA expands to include thin surface treatments

The International Slurry Surfacing Association (ISSA) recently voted to expand the scope of its organization to include other thin surface sealing contractors, materials suppliers, and equipment manufacturers, according to Mike Buckingham, past president.

The expansion will include chip seal, cracksealing, surface rejuvenation, and others in the pavement preservation area.

For more information contact ISSA at 410-267-0023 or visit www.slurry.org.

Stone acquires property for expansion

Stone Construction, Honeoye, NY, recently acquired a 9.5-acre parcel of land adjacent to the company''s current headquarters.

The land will allow for future plant and office expansion. Currently, Stone''s facilities include a 150,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility, a 7,200-sq.-ft. research and development facility, and multi-acre testing and proving grounds.

Volvo finalizes Ingersoll Rand acquisition
Volvo has concluded the acquisition of U.S.-based Ingersoll Rand''s road development equipment division, and the division was consolidated into the Volvo Group May 1.

Volvo paid $1.3 billion for the assets of the division, which is headquartered in Shippensburg, PA, and employs 2,000 people worldwide.

Industry appointments

At Blastrac Global, Oklahoma City, OK, Stephen Klugherz is global vice-president of strategic business development, Greg Bowers joins the company as North America market manager for the newly formed highway and airport division, and Victor Mah joins as international technical director for division.

Karl Rowan is district manager for the mid-central territory of Sakai America, Adairsville, GA.

Don Kaiden, Ballou Construction Co., Salina, KS, is president of International Slurry Surfacing Association....Greg Brown, Brown & Brown, Salina, KS, is president of the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association....Robert Koleas, Western Emulsions Inc., Dana Point, CA, is president of the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association.

Letter to Editor: Ceramic sealer statements questioned

I sincerely appreciate you taking the trouble of writing a comprehensive article on the state of sealcoating in 2007 in the March/April issue of Pavement Magazine. Most of the statements and observations made by the interviewees were factual, objective, and unbiased, that is until you reach to the section titled "Sealer Using Ceramics," after which the article totally derailed as the proponents started to make claims about the processes that have not been heard elsewhere in scientific publications.

I am talking about "pre-nucleating asphalt particles," "bitusperse deposits small ceramic particles," and "balanced ion charges."

Asphalt emulsions do have ionic charges; anionic for negative, cationic for positive, and non-ionic for balanced. Are they trying to say that emulsions with positive or negative charges are not stable? Also, what is "nucleation?" Is asphalt an atom? Asphalt is a very complex mixture of thousands of compounds (molecules). How do you nucleate a molecule? Can those interviewed produce any literature references to support their postulations?

It appears these comments are merely an attempt to confuse sealcoating professionals who look up to us manufacturers for factual, technical information. Sealer producers can say anything they want in their own literature or advertisements, but not in the industry magazine.