Jakarta – BRIN Public Relations. Damage to runways in Indonesia generally consists of cracks or fractures, tire scratches and peeling. This can be caused by many factors, such as water intrusion, stress from heavy loads, expansion, and contraction, which result from seasonal temperature changes and sun exposure. As an important infrastructure for air transportation, airport operators must be able to ensure that runways are always in prime condition, in order to ensure the safety of passengers and employees.
“One of the efforts to maintain performance and prevent a decrease in runway performance is to provide a flexible pavement surface layer. Its function is to maintain slip resistance, close hairline cracks, protect the pavement surface from oxidation processes, and inhibit water penetration into the pavement layer. This is done by adding a polymer asphalt mixture consisting of aggregates, emulsions, and polymer binders,” explained Head of the Polymer Technology Research Center – National Research and Innovation Agency (PRTPL BRIN), Joddy Arya Laksmono. To develop research on polymer asphalt for airport runways and several other innovation researches, the Polymer Technology Research Center (PRTPL BRIN) and PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang collaborated to conduct joint research. The signing of the cooperation took place at the PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang office, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, Monday (21/08).
“This collaboration shows the trust from industries engaged in the polymer sector to collaborate with the Polymer Technology Research Center. It is hoped that in this collaboration, there will be a symbiotic mutualism between researchers at the Polymer Technology Research Center and PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang,” he said. Joddy explained that the collaboration with PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang uses a super tax deduction scheme. This super tax deduction is an incentive provided by the government for industries that utilize research results in their field. It is hoped that this incentive can encourage research into polymer asphalt for runway coating and produce innovative products.
“So this innovation is able to suppress and substitute imported products, in line with the increasing need for polymer asphalt, for the maintenance and construction of new airports in Indonesia,” added Joddy. Meanwhile, the Director of PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang, Lois Josca Danoes, revealed that the innovations of researchers from Indonesia were better than those of other countries. So he was interested in collaborating with researchers from PRTPL BRIN.
“Through this joint research activity, we hope that PT Prasarana Danoes Cemerlang can take advantage of the super tax deduction scheme, for further development and implementation,” he added.
Following up on this collaboration, the PRTPL Functional Polymer research group, Asep Riswoko and his team conducted research on polymer asphalt for airport runways. It is hoped that several innovations being developed will encourage an increase in domestic content, namely the use of local asphalt, aggregates and polymer materials.