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Asphalt batch mix plant A machine laying asphalt concrete, fed from a dump truck
Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, and the core of embankment dams. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the nineteenth century. It consists of mineral aggregate bound together with bitumen (a substance also independently known as asphalt, pitch, or tar), laid in layers, and compacted.