MassDOT Research and Materials Section (RMS): Laboratory

The laboratory tests the quality of materials and products used during construction. RMS is the central laboratory for MassDOT and consists of 6 individual labs. This state-of-the-art facility provides various controlled conditions that enables precise and efficient measurements and testing.

Responsibilities

RMS tests more than 3,000 material samples per year. The facility is equipped to perform more than 120 unique test methods using AASHTO/ASTM guidelines on the following materials:

• Cement/SCM - cement, blended cement, fly ash, and slag
• Concrete - cylinders, cores, beams, and alkali-silica reaction (ASR) aggregate samples
• Soils and Aggregates - gravel, embankment materials, loam, coarse and fine aggregates
• Asphalt Binder - performance grade (PG) asphalt binder, and emulsions
• Asphalt Mixture - hot mix asphalt core and boxed samples
• Chemical - paint, thermoplastics and other traffic marking materials, and sealants
• Physical - glass beads, bridge bearing pads, bricks, concrete blocks, reinforcing steel, welded wire fabric, cast and ductile iron, fence, and 7-wire strand

The laboratory provides objective, analytical data on the quality of materials and products used during construction.

As new AASHTO/ASTM standard test methods are developed, the laboratory collaborates with various outside entities and performs multiple trial tests to obtain informational results. Those results are then analyzed, compared, and used to finalize the new standard for implementation.