Patent ID: 7820083
Filing Date: 2010-10-26
Classification: E01C,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A process of making reflective pellets for reflective marking of highways, comprising: forming a mixture of thermoplastic, a pigment and a plasticizer, heating the mixture to a molten state, progressively moving the heated mixture through a die to form a plastic extrudate, as the heated mixture approaches the die progressively adding reflective beads to the mixture such that the plastic extrudate formed by the die includes a plurality of the reflective beads, immersing the plastic extrudate in a cooling liquid, while the plastic extrudate is immersed in the cooling liquid cutting the plastic extrudate into lengths approximately the same as the breadth of the plastic extrudate to form the plastic extrudate into pellets that contain a plurality of the reflective beads, cooling the pellets with the cooling liquid until the pellets become solid, immersing the solid pellets in a dissolving liquid that dissolves the plastic extrudate at the surface of the solid pellets, and agitating the pellets in the dissolving liquid for dissolving the exposed surfaces of the pellets and for exposing the reflective beads at the surfaces of the pellets.