JAYPEE UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNILOGY,GUNA.

PROJECT REPORT ON USE OF MODIFIED BITUMEN ON ROADS

SUBMITTED TO: MR. SHIVA SHANKAR (DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEEERING DEPARTMENT)

SUBMITTED BY: ARPYIT GUPTA(091569) GAURAV GUPTA(091570) ROHIT THAKRAL(091571) SHANKAR PRASAD(091572)

CONTENTS
TOPICS 1. INTRODUCTION PAGE NO. 3

2. BASIC PROPERTIES OF BITUMEN

3. TYPES OF MODIFIED BITUMEN

4. CODES AND GUIDELINES USED IN INDIA

5. WAYS THAT MAY MODIFY BITUMEN ON ADDITION OF POLYMERS

6. SOME POLYMERS USED FOR MODIFICATION

7. PROCESSSING OF MODIFIED BITUMEN

 INTRODUCTION
Modified bituminous materials can bring real benefits to highway maintenance/construction, in terms of better and longer lasting roads, and savings in total road life costing. Some bitumen may require modifiers, such as polymers, to meet low and high temperature requirements. Although modifiers may affect many properties, the majority of modifiers attempt to decrease the temperature dependency and oxidation hardening of bitumen and asphalt mixtures. It has to be said at the outset almost all modified bituminous materials are proprietary materials, this causes problems in determining the benefits of different materials on other, and the ability to directly compare one material with another.

BASIC PROPERTIES OF BITUMEN

Bitumen is so useful in the road making and road maintenance industries because of its basic thermoplastic nature, i.e. it is stiff/solid when cold and liquid when hot, (well with penetration grade bitumens anyway). (The modifying polymers used in bitumen are also thermoplastic in nature.) The basic properties of bitumens can be modified by the addition of flux oils or volatile oils to produce bitumens of various grades. These grades are specified by their viscosity, (penetration), and their softening point, this information, along with other physical characteristic. The above ways of altering the characteristics of bitumen are really ways of decreasing the stiffness of the binder and increasing the workability of bituminous mixtures at lower temperatures, e.g. hand-lay work. Of course penetration grade bitumens modified with flux oils or volatile oils will have a lower performance in use.

TYPES OF MODIFIED BITUMEN :

a. Rubber Modified i. Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen (NRMB) ii. Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen (CRMB) b. Polymer Modified i. Modified with Elastomeric Polymers PMB (E) ii. Modified with Plastomeric Polymers PMB (P)

1. Rubber Modified Bitumen

a) Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen (NRMB)

Rubberised asphalt, mainly surface course (wearing course) but also binder course (basecourse), has been used with a fair degree of success for over 40 years. Rubber is a natural polymer and its action in a bituminous mix is similar to that of the synthetic thermoplastic rubbers (TR's). This technology can largely enhance and improve the durability of roads. It will be susceptible to temperature variations and will help to improve the desirable qualities of bitumen, increasing its overall performance to a large extent. Natural Rubber modified binder properties: Increased Softening Point. Penetration of base bitumen enhanced. Increased level of binder stiffness and viscosity. Penetration index improved. Greater resistance to cracking at low temperatures.

b) Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen (CRMB) Asphalt rubber, also named crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) have been spread worldwide as solution for different quality problems. They are proven to have excellent performance in hot, moderate and cold climate under various load conditions, cold properties and they also have high resistance against aging. The common advantages are: improved durability, lower life-cycle cost, less reflective cracking, better adhesion, less bleeding during construction, better drainage, substantial noise reduction, wider utilization temperature interval, better skid resistance etc compared to most of other modified or non-modified bitumen containing asphalt pavements. These advantages were demonstrated by roads built in the last 40 years. Prior to utilization of any polymer modified bitumen into various countries it requires careful planning, engineering design and many laboratory tests in order to
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 maximize benefits, minimize cost and perfectly accommodate into the regions individuality.

2. Polymer Modified Bitumen

POLYMER, (polymers being the most common bitumen modifier) The term "polymer" does not automatically mean a synthetic material. It basically means a combination of a large number of similar small molecules or "monomers" into large molecules or "polymers". The polymer will have different properties to the monomer. There are a large number of naturally occurring polymers, these can be organic or mineral substances. Such natural examples of polymers include hair, rubber, diamonds and sulphur. Even bitumen could be regarded as a polymer because of the long-chain nature of some of the organic molecules that are the constituent parts of bitumen.

SYNTHETIC POLYMERS These are polymers that have been manufactured in a chemical process to combine particular molecules in a way that would not occur naturally. And although various synthetic polymers have been capable of being produced since the early part of this century it is the more recently developed polymers that are now being used to modify bitumens and produce the "new" bituminous binders. The new polymers being the result of research and development by the large petrochemical industries. But when I say "new" most of the synthetic polymers used in the modification of bitumen have been around for 30 years or more.

What may be "newer" is the way that they are "mixed" / "blended" with the base bitumen.

CODES AND GUIDELINES USED IN INDIA

IRC SP: 53(2002) or Indian Roads Congress Special Publication 53; Guidelines on Use of Polymer and Rubber Modified Bitumen in Road Construction. IS 15462 : 2004; Indian Standard on Polymer and Rubber Modified Bitumen- Specifications.

WAYS THAT MAY MODIFY BITUMEN ON ADDITION OF POLYMERS

The polymer additives do not chemically combine or change the chemical nature of the bitumen being modified, apart from being present in and throughout the bitumen. What polymers will do is change the physical nature of bitumens, and they are able to modify such physical properties as the softening point and the brittleness of the bitumen. Elastic recovery/ductility can also be improved. This in turn will alter the properties of the aggregate / bitumen mixture in which the modified bitumen is used. These criteria are important in a mix with regard to problems such as wheel track rutting at high temperatures and fatigue cracking at low temperatures due to the brittleness of the mix. The basic laying workability of the asphalt or macadam you are using will still be governed by the viscosity of the grade of bitumen you have specified. It is usually the stiffer 50pen, or possibly 70pen bitumen that is modified. The way the additive/polymer usually influences the bitumen characteristics is by dissolving into certain component fractions of the bitumen itself, spreading out its long chain polymer molecules to create an inter-connecting matrix of the polymer through the bitumen. It is this matrix of the long chain molecules of the added polymer that modifies the physical properties of the bitumen. Because of the thermoplastic nature of the polymers, some polymers will actually break up into their constituent molecular blocks at the high temperatures, during mixing and laying,
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and recombine into their polymer chains at lower temperatures, i.e. ambient temperatures. What has to be ascertained in practice is the degree of modification that takes place, and whether the degree of improvement achieved in the overall qualities of the bituminous mix is worth having, and is it cost effective.

SOME POLYMERS USED FOR MODIFICATION

1. Thermoplastic Rubbers, (TR's) This may be regarded as a group name / description for a number of polymers/copolymers used in the modification of bitumen. A copolymer is a polymer that has more than one type of molecule incorporated in the polymer. These polymers are made up of many thousands of individual monomers/molecules built up into chains by the various polymerisation processes developed by the large chemical industries. 2. Styrene Butadiene Styrene, (SBS) This is a thermoplastic rubber. SBS is a copolymer that you will come across in bitumen modification, it was originally developed for use in the production of tyres and the soles of shoes, but is suitable for the modification of bitumen. 3. Ethylene Vinyl Acetate, (EVA) This is not regarded as part of the thermoplastic rubber group but is still thermoplastic in its nature. One of the uses for this type of polymer are the "hot melt" glues. Performance of polymer modified bitumen Polymer modified bitumen have the ability to offer improved performance over conventional, non modified bituminous binders, but are economical considerations should be normally taken to ensure their higher price (compared to non modified binders). Benefits that may be derived from bitumen modification include: improved consistency, reduced temperature susceptibility, improved stiffness and cohesion, improved flexibility, resilience and toughness, improved binder-aggregate adhesion,
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 improved resistance to in-service ageing, improved rutting resistance. Relative Performance

CRMB, NRMB, PMB(P) and PMB(E) having the same softening point are not equivalent in performance and the cost. They may differ in following attributes: a. Elastic Recovery, Fatigue resistance, life of pavement b. Creep and rut resistance c. Susceptibility to low temperatures and high rainfall d. Suitability for extreme temperatures e. Suitability for subzero temperature f. Suitability for very heavy/intense traffic

Suffix. It denotes the following: a. NRMB and PMB - Penetration value b. CRMB Softening Point c. Suffix in PMB(E) 40, PMB(P) 40, NRMB 40 denotes their penetration value whereas in CRMB 60, it denotes the softening point.

PROCESSING OF MODIFIED BITUMEN

High Shear Device An essential part of a processing plant for modified bitumen. As per the note in Clause 3 of IS 15462 2004: Homogeneity is very important for the desired performance of polymer and rubber modified bitumen. Hence these should be prepared at refinery or by appropriate industrial process and plant having high shear device. The use of high shear mixer is essential. Central Plant Processing of modified bitumen requires a central plant and an established process using high shear device, curing of the material and functional laboratory to test the material for penetration, elastic recovery and softening point, before dispatch to the client. Transportation Modified Bitumen can be transported in bulk tankers or in drums. The bulk tankers must have the following: a. Good functional insulation so that the drop in temperature is not more than 10deg C in 24hours. b. Unloading pump c. Heating arrangement d. Circulation mechanism Storage at HMP Modified Bitumen must be stored separately in a clean storage having the following: a. Good functional insulation
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b. Indirect heating arrangement c. Circulation Mechanism d. Agitation mechanism Temperatures Temperature regime of modified bitumen and its mixes is 15 to 20deg C higher as compared to straight grade bitumen. These have been specified in section 521 of the MOSRT&H specifications.