Cutback asphalt is an asphalt cement that has a solvent or distillate such as gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, or naphtha added to make the asphalt liquid at ambient temperatures and improve its ability to coat aggregates.
Two letters followed by a numerical digit designate or name a cutback asphalt.
Cutback asphalt can contain between 12 and 40 percent distillate. The high demand for the distillates to be used in energy applications and ever-increasing air quality regulations have caused a steady decline in the use of cutback asphalt.
The SC liquid asphalt may be obtained by fluxing an asphalt cement with a less volatile distillate such as gas oil. The SC-70 and SC-250 grade cutback asphalts are very similar to residual refinery products that are used as heavy fuel oils such as bunker C or Number six fuel oils.
These SC cutback materials, whether straight run or fluxed with a relatively non-volatile material such as gas oil, are also known as “road oils”