Asphalt IngredientsAccording to the National Asphalt Producers Association, what most people mean when they say "asphalt", they mean a particular product known in the industry as asphalt pavement, or sometimes, Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavement. Other names for asphalt pavement include blacktop, macadam, and tarmac. For this pavement asphalt, there are two basic ingredients. For the first, there are the aggregates, which mean a mixture of crushed stone, gravel, and sand. These aggregates are typically stone that can be sourced locally for the production of asphalt. In terms of total weight of the pavement asphalt, as much as 95 percent of the total weight consists of these aggregates. The remaining 5 percent is called asphalt cement. Asphalt cement is a black liquid that holds the final product, the asphalt pavement together. Asphalt cement is a petroleum by-product from the same refineries that produce gasoline and heating oil. As an ingredient, asphalt cement can be described as a heavy, viscous part of petroleum.
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