Reflective concrete body, process for the manufacture and utilization of the same

Claim 2

In a road surface having a top layer of reflex reflective concrete comprising a mixture of cement, hard filler material, glass balls and pigment, the improvement wherein: (a) said cement is white Portland cement; (b) said hard filler material is particulate white quartz of particle size smaller than that of said glass balls; (c) said glass balls are colorless crystal glass balls comprising from 50 to 70% of said mixture and being arranged in a plurality of layers within said top layer of said road surface, the balls of the uppermost of said plurality of layers being exposed approximately to half their diameters; and (d) said pigment is titanium dioxide.

Claim 3

The improvement according to claim 1 wherein said particulate white quartz is a trigonal trapezohedrical β-quartz powder having a refractive index of 1.55.

Claim 4

The improvement according to claim 2, wherein: (a) said β-quartz powder comprises from 10 to 30% of said mixture; (b) said white Portland cement comprises from 15 to 25% of said mixture; and (c) said titanium dioxide comprises from 1.5 to 4.5% of said mixture.

Claim 5

The improvement according to claim 3, wherein: (a) said colorless crystal glass balls comprise 60% of said mixture; (b) said β-quartz powder comprises 20% of said mixture; (c) said white Portland cement comprises 18% of said mixture; and (d) said titanium dioxide comprises 2% of said mixture.

Claim 6

The improvement according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein said colorless crystal glass balls have a diameter of from 0.2 to 0.6 mm.

Claim 7

In a process for manufacturing a road surface having a top layer of reflex reflective concrete, said top layer being formed by roughly mixing cement, hard filler material, glass balls and pigment in a dry condition, adding sufficient water to the dry mixture to produce a thick wet concrete, filling a form with said wet concrete, compacting said wet concrete in the form, removing the compacted concrete from the form, allowing the removed compacted concrete to harden and thereafter treating a surface area of the hardened concrete with an acid to partially expose those glass balls which are directly adjacent said surface area, the improvement comprising the steps of using white Portland cement as said cement, white quartz particles as said hard filler material, colorless crystal glass balls in an amount of from 50 to 70% of said dry mixture as said glass balls and titanium dioxide as said pigment.

Claim 8

In a process for manufacturing a road surface having a top layer of reflex reflective concrete, said top layer being formed by roughly mixing cement, hard filler material, glass balls and pigment in a dry condition, adding sufficient water to the dry mixture to produce a thick wet concrete, filling a form with said wet concrete, compacting said wet concrete in the form, removing the compacted concrete from the form, allowing the removed compacted concrete to harden and thereafter treating a surface area of the hardened concrete with an acid to partially expose those glass balls which are directly adjacent said surface area, the improvement comprising the steps of using white Portland cement as said cement, white quartz particles as said hard filler material, colorless crystal glass balls in an amount of from 50 to 70% of said dry mixture as said glass balls and titanium dioxide as said pigment.

Claim 9

The improvement according to claim 6, wherein said white quartz particles have the trigonal trapezohedrical crystal structure of β-quartz and a refractive index of 1.55.

Claim 10

The improvement according to claim 7, wherein said white quartz particles comprise from 10 to 30% of said dry mixture, said white Portland cement comprises from 15 to 25% of said dry mixture and said titanium dioxide comprises from 1.5 to 4.5% of said dry mixture.

Claim 11

The improvement according to claim 8, wherein said colorless crystal glass balls comprise 60% of said dry mixture, said white quartz particles comprise 20% of said dry mixture, said white Portland cement comprises 18% of said dry mixture and said titanium dioxide comprises 2% of said dry mixture.

Claim 12

The improvement according to claim 6, 7, 8 or 9, wherein said colorless crystal glass balls have a diameter of from 0.2 to 0.6 mm.

Claim 13

The improvement according to claim 6, wherein said wet concrete is compressed at a pressure of about 300 kg/cm 2 .

Claim 14

The improvement according to claim 6 or 11, wherein the acid used for treating said major surface is phosphoric acid.