Transpo launches Color-Safe into airfield marking market

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Transpo has been selling its MMA (methyl methacrylate) runway repair and preservation patching product to major airports for more than 20 years and it has proved most effective at sealing cracks in concrete runways and mitigating the effects of damaging freeze-thaw weather cycles.

Moreover, it has also being selling MMA-based products for use by various authorities as road markings – for bike lanes, bus lanes, roundabouts and the like. Considering MMA offers significant benefits over traditional paint and thermoplastic airfield markings – paint fades quickly and thermoplastic is both expensive and challenging to lay down – it was an “easy decision” for Transpo to make use of its experience with these polymers and launch them into the airfield marking sector, says the company’s president, Mike Stenko. “Color-Safe is the solution to both these issues (fading paint quality and the challenges associated with thermoplastics), and we felt that it was the right time for us to get into the airfield marking market with this innovative product,” he comments.

Color-Safe takes comparatively little time to apply and cure (it cures ready for aircraft traffic in less than an hour) and can be applied in temperatures ranging from 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. MMA has a long history of use and is well known for its durability as well as sustaining highly visible colours. Unlike thermoplastic, MMAs also require no special equipment to apply and they do not need to be removed prior to any re-coating. Aggregate can be added to offer a more skid-resistant surface and glass beads can also be introduced onto MMA markings to increase reflectivity, while by contrast the thermoplastic application process can sometimes blow off or bury these beads.

Transpo claims that its Color-Safe product lasts for five years with “little or no maintenance required”. The company has a number of large airport clients in the US that have already employed Color-Safe and are evaluating it for future, expanded use. As well as being suitable for runways, taxiways and stands, it is also being assessed for use in coating the area between parallel runways, perhaps in green to maximise the contrast with the runway surfaces while offering the appearance of grass from a distance.

The feedback, says Stenko, from airport authorities who have used their own employees and from those who have employed contractors to apply it is that the product is easy use, while airport authorities look with enthusiasm at the potential savings that can accrue given its long-term durability. As he points out, “Color-Safe has already gone through several winters and continues to hold in both colour and performance.”

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