GRT

Research & Development

Research and development (R&D) is one of Global Road Technology’s core strategic pillars. Our goal is to dominate through technical excellence. Towards this, all business units and processes feed back into the R&D development team allowing GRT to have directed and mission critical R&D objectives.

Our Research Team

Our research team consists of experienced technologists and researchers in the fields of chemical engineering, geotechnical engineering, software engineering as well as civil engineering. They work closely with the sales and marketing teams who have regular contact with our customers. Our aim is to provide solutions to better satisfy our clients’ needs.

GRT has state of the art chemistry and geotechnical laboratories as well as substantial research and development cooperation agreements with major universities such as Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Sydney and University of Queensland (UQ). The R&D team also have constant contact with relevant resources at MIT and Harvard.

GRT supports scientific research and is a keen subscriber to the latest technologies in the fields of organic chemistry, geotechnical engineering and civil engineering. GRT has committed to show its support by sponsoring postdoctoral research and funding a GRT Fellowship at QUT.

It is GRT’s commitment to innovation and excellence that sets it apart from its competitors. GRT polymers are molecularly designed and tailor-made for specific soil types and environmental conditions with over 85 formula’s currently in use. All products are extensively tested by ERM, a leading international third party environmental testing laboratory, and certified environmentally friendly.

GRT employs advanced analytic techniques such as:

  • Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
  • Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
  • Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
  • Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
  • Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
  • Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
  • Elemental Analysis (GC-MASS)
  • X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)
  • Gel permeation chromatography (GPC)
  • Rheometry
  • PH
  • Accelerated Aging

This provides valuable scientific insight, not only into the chemical structure of GRT polymer formulations but also into the interaction of polymer formulations with specific soil types at macro as well as molecular level.

Scientific data is carefully documented in GRT’s proprietary R&D module of the RMS information technology system. This allows GRT researchers to quickly cross-reference experimental results to identify key drivers for required outcomes.

Exploiting these key drivers allows GRT to create exciting new formulations directed at specific real life problem areas. All new formulations are tested in the GRT geotechnical laboratory in terms of unconfined compression strength (UCS), soaked and unsoaked Californian Bearing Ratio (CBR), Capillary rise, etc. to establish baseline suitability of the formulation to treat a particular soil type. Results are once again recorded in the GRT RMS system, providing GRT with an extensive database of polymer formations ideally suited to substantially improve specific soil types for specific environmental conditions.

The final stage of the R&D process is to perform field trials where the field performance is tested and recorded on a monthly basis from 6 months to a year, depending on test variability. Formulations that pass this vigorous process are either guarded as trade secrets or patented.

GRT Product Applications