BITUMEN

Bituminous materials are widely used in road construction and maintenance. After gaining experience
from their use in obtaining smooth riding surface. bituminous mixtures are being used as structural
layers. These materials are considered to be flexible from structural point of view.

Source
The most common source of bitumen is through petroleum crude. It is also found as rock asphalt in
some parts of Europe and as Lake Asphalt in Trinidad. Indian crude does not yield good bitumen
suitable for roadwork, except Digboi bitumen (in Assam). Thus, India gets its entire bitumen through
imported crude.

DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF BITUMEN

In road construction one looks for the following desirable properties in bitumen.
(a) Bitumen should have good affinity to aggregates.
(b) Bitumen should be fluid enough to coat all particles of the aggregates in a premix process. This
is achieved by heating the bitumen and the aggregates too.
(c) In spraying work, bitumen should be susceptible of being sprayed to a thin film. This is
achieved either by heating it or by fluxing it or by emulsifying it.
(d) When the binder cools down to atmospheric temperature it should harden to hold the aggregates
together.
(e) Its susceptibility to change its viscosity when temperature varies should be low. In particular,
its viscosity characteristics should be reasonably constant within the range of temperatures
the road experiences.
(f) The bitumen should retain its properties over a long period. In other words, it should be a
durable binder and should not lose its properties too soon.

Physical Properties of Bitumen

Bitumen possesses the following properties:
(a) It is a viscous liquid; black or brown in colour
(b) It consists predominantly of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum crude
(c) It is soluble in carbon disulphide
(d) It is insoluble in water
(e) Its specific gravity is around 1.00
(f) It has water-proofing properties
(g) It is thermoplastic, i.e. it becomes soft on heating and in the reverse process becomes hard on
cooling
(h) It oxidizes slowly.
(i) It is chemically inert.

TESTING OF BITUMEN
Viscosity Test
-Viscosity is the property of bitumen which resists flow due to internal friction.
-Absolute or dynamic viscosity is measured by means of a sliding plate viscometer (see figure).
-A thin film of bitumen of thickness d(20 to 50 microns) is held between two plates, the area of
contact being A. The tangential force F to move the top plate at a velocity. V is measured The
coefficient of viscosity, η is then given by:
F. d
η=
A. V
In CGS units it is measured in Poise.
 Dynamic Viscosity η
Kinematic Viscosity = =
Density 𝜌
Kinematic viscosity is measured in CGS units in Stokes (𝑐𝑚2 /sec).

-The viscosity of liquid bitumen is measured by efflux Viscometer

-The liquid is kept at a constant temperature and is made to pass through an orifice: the time required
to pass a measured quantity through the orifice is noted and is an indirect measure of the viscosity
(shown in figure).

-The methods used are STV (Standard Tar Viscometer), Say bolt Furol, Redwood and Engler.
-The diameter of orifice varies in the range of 3 to 10 mm and the volume of fluid is in the range of 50
to 200 ml.
-Furol Viscosity is standardized test.

Ductility Test
-Bitumen binder should be sufficiently ductile, i.e, it should be capable of being stretched without
breaking. Ductility is the opposite of brittleness.
-Ductility is measured by stretching a standard briquette of bitumen in figure) having a cross-sectional
area of 1 sq cm at a temp.of 27°C the rate of pull being 5 cm/min.
-The distance in cm that the briquette can be stretched before breaking is the ductility.
-Its value varies from 5 to 100
-A minimum value of 50 is commonly specified. For waxy bitumen, values may be as low as 15 .
-ISI has recommended a minimum ductility value of 75 cm for grades of 45 and above.
Penetration Test
-A measure of the hardness of bitumen is indirectly obtained by the penetration test. .
- It measures the distance a standard blunt pointed needle will vertically penetrate a sample of
material at 27°C, the load being 100 g and time of application of load being
5 secs (in figure).
-The unit of penetration is 1/10 mm
-Thus 80/100 pen means a penetration of 8-10 mm
-Penetration limits enable bitumen to be classified on the basis of consistency. Common grades
are 30/40, 60/70 and 80/100.
• Tars are soft and penetration test is not used.

Softening Point Test

-The softening point is measured by the "Ring and Ball" test.
-Softening point is the temperature at which bitumen attains a particular degree of softness under
standardized testconditions.
-The temperature at which a standard. steel ball placed on a layer of bitumen kept in a standard ring
passes through the bitumen layer and touches the bottom plate kept at a distance of 2.54 cm is the
softening point.
-The both liquid is water/glycerine. The softening point of paving grade bitumen 80/100 i 35-50°C.
The significance of the softening point is that it indicates the temperature at which bitumen passes
from solid to liquid consistency.
-For satisfactory performance and avoidance of "bleeding", bitumen should have a softening point 5
to 10°C above the maximum atmospheric temperature.

Flash and Fire Point Test

-At high temperature, bitumen becomes volatile, and thus catches fire which is very hazardous. Thus
it is necessary that we quantify this temperature for each grade of bitumen.
-The flash point (shown in figure) is the lowest temperature in degrees C at which the application of a
test flame causes the vapour from bitumen to catch fire momentarily in the form of a flash.
-The fire point is the lowest temperature in degrees C at which the application of the test flame
causes the bitumen to ignite and burn for at least 5 secs under specified conditions of test.
-The safe limit for heating bitumen is normally 50°C below the flash point.

Specific Gravity Test

-Specific gravity of bitumen is determined by the pycnometer method.
-The measurements are taken at 27°C. The specific gravity is generally around 1.00.
-Specific gravity of pure bitumen is in the range of 0.97 to 1.02 whereas Tars have specific gravity
ranging from 1.10 to 1.25.

Solubility Test
-The solubility of bitumen in trichloroethylene is a measure of its purity.
- A minimum value of 99 percent is generally desired.

Float Test
-Normally the consistency of bituminous material can be measured either by penetration test or by
viscosity test. But for certain range of consistencies, these tests are not applicable and float test is
used.
The float test is a modified viscosity test adopted for use with small quantities of very viscous
bituminous materials.
the time in seconds required for a small plug of chilled bitumen, which is held in an open mould
attached to the
bottom of a saucer, to become sufficiently fluid when the saucer is floated in water at 50°C.

Loss on Heating Test

-When a bituminous material is heated, it loses its volatile and therefore hardness.
-The less the loss on heating, the better is the bitumen.
-The test is conducted by an accelerated heat test. 50 g of bitumen is placed in a container in one of
the recesses of revolving shelf. The shelf rotates at 5 to 6 revolutions per minute. The test is carried
out for 5 hrs in an oven at 163°C.
-Not more than one percent loss in weight is desirable.

Water Content Test

It is desirable that the bitumen contains minimum water content to prevent foaming of bitumen
when it is heated above the boiling point of water. The maximum water content in bitumen should
not exceed 0.2% by weight.

SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE GRADE OF BITUMEN

SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE GRADE OF BITUMEN

Guidelines for selection of bitumen grade in India are given below:

Type of Bitumen Use
Penetration Grade 30/40 Hot-mix work in areas where the difference between maximum and
minimum temperature is less than 25°C and on roads with high volume
of traffic (expressways, urban roads and factory roads)
Penetration Grade 60/70 Hot-mix work for bituminous macadam s and bituminous concrete for
superior type of roads with high traffic and in normal summer
temperatures.
(j) For surface dressing.
(ii) For premix works in high altitudes.
(iii) For premix works in roads with less traffic intensity

Cut back Bitumen (i) Surface dressing in cold weather

(ii) Premix in cold weather
(iii) MC and SC cut backs are used for priming.
Emulsion -Used for surface dressing in cold weather, wet conditions and
maintenance works
-Used for premix works in wet weather (except dense and semi-dense
carpet and maintenance works.
-Priming.

Cutback Bitumen
The viscosity of bitumen is reduced by a volatilediluents. Cut back bitumens are available in three
type
1. Rapid Curing (RC)
2. Medium Curing (MC)
3. Slow Curing (SC)
-The cutbacks are designated by numerals representing progressively thicker or viscous cuth back.
For example, RC-2 is thicker than RC-1 but RC-2, MC-2 and SC-2 have same viscosity
-RC-O and SC-0 may have 45% solvent and 55% bitumen whereas RC-5 and MC-5 may contain 15%
solvent and 85% bitumen.
-RC-Cutback: They have penetration value of 80 to 120 eg. , petroleum such as naptha or gasoline.
-MC-Cutback: They have good wetting properties. eg., kerosene and light diesel oil.
-SC-cutback: These can be obtained by blending bitumen with high boiling point gas oil or by
controlling the rate of flow and temperature of crude during the first cycle of refining.

Bituminous Emulsion
-Emulsion is a two-phase system consisting of two immiscible liquids.
-The bitumen/tar content in emulsion range from 40 to 60% and the remaining portion is water.
-The average diameter of globules of bitumen portion is about 2 mm.
-Emulsion are used especially in maintenance and patch repair works. The main advantage of
emulsion is that is can be used in wet weather even when it is raining. Emulsions can be used
for soil stabilization in deserts.

Tar
Tar can be produced in 3 stages
(i) Canonization of coal to produce crude tar.
(ii) Refining or distillation of crude tar.
(iii) Blending of distillation residue with distillate oil fraction to give desired road tar.
-RT-1 is lowest viscosity used for surface 'painting whereas RT-4 may be used for premix in
macadam
-RT-5 is used for grouting which has highest viscosity.

Tar and Bitumen (Comparison)

-Bitumen is a petroleum product whereas tar is produced by the destructive distillation of coal or
wood.
-Bitumen is soluble in 'carbon disulphide' and 'carbon tetrachloride' but tar is soluble in only toluene.
-Bitumen is more resistant to water than tar.
-Tar is more temperature susceptible resulting in great variation in viscosity with temperature
-The free carbon content is more in tar as seen from the solubility test.