Engineering and Technology Journal (Sep 2011)
Polymeric Additives Effect on Mechanical Properties for Bitumen Based Composites
Abstract
Bitumen binder is a thermoplastic liquid and the elementary analysis of the bitumen manufactured from a variety of crude oils shows that most bitumen contains carbon, hydrogen, sulphur, oxygen, and nitrogen. At high temperature or low loading, it behaves as a viscous liquid. This classical dichotomy creates a need to improve the performance of an asphalt binder to minimize the stress cracking that occurs at low temperatures and the plastic deformation at high temperature. In order to increase the durability of bitumen materials are needed to modify the quality of bitumen materials. The research work covers five percentages of thermoplastic copolymer content (5%, 7%, 9%, 11%, and 13%) by weight of bitumen were used. The polymer modified mixes were designed in accordance with Marshall Test. Experimental testing has revealed the enhancement in the physical and mechanical properties of bitumen mixtures when the five percents of the thermoplastic copolymer were added. The ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) modified bitumen had the lowest penetration and highest kinematic viscosity as compared with that of unmodified bitumen. The ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) modified mixtures also has experienced the highest Marshall Stiffness, indirect tensile strength and unconfined compressive strength as compared with that of unmodified mixtures. The experimental results are used to develop four empirical correlations. The practical use of such equations, given the value of the mechanical properties with the polymer and bitumen content without needs any experimental data points.
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