Cold Milling
Milling technology has had many changes over the years. Milling was one of the first ways which roads were kept maintained and in good condition.
What's it used for?
- Surface Mining – Strip Mining/Open Cast Mining
- Cross Application Miners: Demanding infrastructure projects, for cutting road and rail routes, lowering tunnel floors and in the construction of harbours or water retention basins.
- Cross Application Planers – Smaller scale infrastructure projects, removal of high strength concrete roads and runways
Milling has been a process in road construction since the 1950’s and these machines used rotary tillers which were either self-propelled or towed by tractors. However, due to a consistent increase in traffic this caused a bigger problem for wearing and the machine needed to be redeveloped to prevent the road from wearing as easy.
The birth of hot milling
1970, was the birth of hot milling. This involved large gas burners being attached to the machine, which then heated the asphalt before laying. Road surfaces could not be repaired economically without damaging the material underneath, and because of the high costs plus the great amount of smoke produced from these machines, the method of hot milling was expensive and also not economically friendly.
The laws of a traction
Between 1985 and 1987, the use of tracked crawler units increased the traction on surfaces and also a mechanical milling drum was developed which helped enable higher productivity and more power.
High precision levelling systems were installed onto milling machines in 1993, to ensure exact milling depths. This is defined by using vertically adjustable crawler units, so that the individual layers on the road surface can be removed precisely.
Greener road repairs
In 2005, extraction systems were put into place on the machines to reduce the number of airborne particles and therefore made them better for the environment. In 2010, the latest generation of milling machines set the standards as they are cost effective and ensure high productivity.
Modern innovation in the industry
Modern machines like the Wirtgen W250i, the world's most advanced planer, is able to remove 350mm of asphalt in one pass at a rate of 200 tonnes per hour if site conditions allow.
The first W250 was introduced to the UK back in 2011 by Power Plane, and has since been replaced with W250i’s today Cold Milling innovation.
Meet the UK’s road planing innovators
Power Plane have been established for over 25 years, and in that time have continued to deliver road planing excellence, operating the largest fleet of Wirtgen planers in the UK.
For more information on the latest tech in cold milling, road planing and surface mining, visit our website.
If you are looking to see how Power Plane can help your next road planing project succeed, give us a call and speak to our friendly team today.
