SMA meets the following demands upon an asphalt pavement:

Good stability at high temperatures

?SMA mix has a self-supporting stone skeleton of crushed high quality coarse aggregate, which provides an increase in internal friction and shear resistance and hence its extremely high stability.

?Good flexibility at low temperatures

SMA mix has a binder rich mastic mortar which has superior properties over dense graded asphalt in resisting thermal cracking.?

High wearing resistance

SMA mix has low air voids, which make the mix practically impermeable, and provide satisfactory ageing resistance, moisture susceptibility and durability. High adhesive capacity between the stone granules and the bitumen With the increase of the amount of filler, cellulose fibers are added as stabilizer. The three dimensional structure of cellulose fiber assists the bitumen to maintain a high viscosity, thickens the bituminous film and improves the bitumen/aggregate adhesion.

?A mix with no tendency to separate

???An efficient stabilization of the mastic in order to prevent its segregation from the coarse particles.

?Good skid resistance

?Because of the macro-texture of the road surface and the use of coarse aggregates with a high Polished Stone Value, SMA pavement achieves a better level of skid resistance.

?Reduced water spray

Because of its greater texture depth, there is less water spray, and at night there is fewer glares reflected from the road surface and better visibility of road markings.

?Lower traffic noise

SMA road surfaces generally offer lower levels of noise due to the texture properties.