Abstract:
A pavement marking material comprises a flexible base sheet (11) that is conformable to an irregular pavement surface. A durable, wear-resistant polymeric top layer (18) which is discontinuous in two directions is affixed to one surface of the base sheet. The polymeric top layer is discontinuous in both the cross web direction and the down web directions. This discontinuity in two directions is obtained by means of a continuous process such as a rotary screen printing process. A rotary screen printing process is much more efficient if the composition to be coated has an infinite pot life at application temperatures. This infinite pot life is attained through the use of a blocked isocyanate crosslinker. The discontinuous nature in two directions of the polymeric top layer provides for increased initial conformance of the pavement marking to irregular pavement surfaces. The discontinuous nature of the polymeric top layer also reduces elastic tensile stresses which tend to build up in continuous top layers and cause adhesive failure. A plurality of particles, retroreflective microspheres and/or skid-resistant particles, are embedded in and protrude from the non-continuous top layer.