🏗️ Aggregates for bituminous mixtures — product requirements, PN-EN 13043

Construction PN-EN 13043

Overview

THE SCOPE FROM THE PKN CATALOGUE CARD, IN FULL: "The properties of aggregates and fillers obtained by a natural, manufactured or recycling process of materials used for bituminous mixtures and surface treatments for roads, airfields and other trafficked areas are specified. Reclaimed bituminous mixtures are not taken into account. Definitions of 16 terms are given."

AN EXCLUSION THAT SETTLES MORE THAN THE SCOPE ITSELF. The sentence "Reclaimed bituminous mixtures are not covered" stands immediately after the mention of recycled aggregates — and the two are easily confused. RECYCLED aggregate (from crushed concrete, say, or from manufactured materials) is covered by the standard; a RECLAIMED BITUMINOUS MIXTURE, that is asphalt planings from milling a pavement, is not. Planings are not an aggregate: they are aggregate already coated with binder, behaving differently and tested differently. Citing this standard in assessing planings is therefore citing a document outside its scope — and it happens precisely because the material looks like aggregate.

SIXTEEN DEFINITIONS. The card records that the standard gives definitions of 16 terms. With product documents, part of the disputes arise not from figures but from names: what is coarse aggregate, what is fine, what is filler. The standard settles this with a vocabulary of its own, and a dispute about a result often turns out to be a dispute about a definition.

TWO AGGREGATE STANDARDS, ONE AGGREGATE. PN-EN 12620 concerns aggregates for concrete, PN-EN 13043 those for bituminous mixtures. The scopes of the two are worded almost identically as to the sources of the material; they differ in the intended use and — which the cards do not settle — in the requirements. The sentence "the aggregate meets the requirements of the standard" is therefore incomplete until it is known WHICH product standard is meant.

THREE KINDS OF SURFACE IN THE TITLE. The scope names roads, AIRFIELDS and other trafficked areas. The airfield application is often passed over when reading the name of the standard, yet it is named in it expressly.

PLACE IN THE SYSTEM OF DOCUMENTS. The tests are carried out to the standards of the PN-EN 932 and PN-EN 933 series — the same as for concrete aggregates. Methods for testing the mixtures themselves are described by the PN-EN 12697 series, represented in this knowledge base by, among others, the entry on density (PN-EN 12697-5).

WHY THE "LABORATORIES" TAB IS EMPTY AT THIS ENTRY (23.09.2026). Measurement on the copy of the accreditation scopes (all records of the number counted): PN-EN 13043 occurs neither in the reference-document field, nor in the test object, nor in the test name, nor in the search field — zero in each of the four. Positive control in the same domain: PN-EN 933-1 (particle size distribution of aggregates) — 55 laboratories, 126 entries. Aggregates for bituminous mixtures as such are also absent from the scopes as the name of a test object — zero entries in which the test object combines the word "kruszywo" [aggregate] with the word "bitumiczny" [bituminous] or "asfaltowy" [asphalt]; mineral-asphalt or bituminous mixtures as a test object are found at 22 laboratories in 160 entries. The zero at the number of this standard is therefore a measured fact, not a fault of the key: tests of aggregates stand in the scopes under the numbers of test standards, such as PN-EN 933-1.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We do not have the text of the standard — PKN supplies it for a fee (KT 108 — the PKN technical committee for Aggregates and Building Stone). We therefore GIVE NEITHER the requirements for any property NOR the content of the sixteen definitions.

Method principle

Aggregate intended for bituminous mixtures is described by a set of properties whose requirements are laid down by this product standard, together with a vocabulary of sixteen terms of its own. The tests are carried out to the method standards of the PN-EN 932 and PN-EN 933 series, and the results are referred to the requirements proper to the declared use.

Applications

• Specifying and assessing the conformity of aggregates for bituminous mixtures
• Aggregates for surface treatments of pavements
• Aggregates for airfield pavements
• Deciding whether the material under test is covered by the standard — asphalt planings are excluded from it

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-EN 13043:2004 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Kruszywa do mieszanek bitumicznych i powierzchniowych utrwaleń stosowanych na drogach, lotniskach i innych powierzchniach przeznaczonych do ruchu

Title (EN)

Aggregates for bituminous mixtures and surface treatments for roads, airfields and other trafficked areas

Step-by-step procedure

1. Check whether the material is covered by the standard

   Recycled aggregate — yes. A reclaimed bituminous mixture (asphalt planings) — NO, the scope excludes it.

2. Establish the application

   Road, airfield or other trafficked area.

3. Check whether this is the right standard

   For concrete, PN-EN 12620 applies. The same aggregate may meet one and fail the other.

4. Check the definitions

   The standard gives 16 definitions of its own. Before a dispute about figures, make sure both sides understand the names in the same way.

5. Carry out the tests and record

   To the standards of the PN-EN 932 and PN-EN 933 series. In the report give the product standard and the application.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Dust is raised when sieving fine aggregates — respiratory protection is required
• Asphalt planings may contain tarry substances from old pavements — work with material from demolition calls for caution and a check of its origin
• TECHNICAL NOTE: asphalt planings look like aggregate but are excluded from the scope of this standard

Frequently asked questions