WHAT IS BITUMEN?

188

ASTM D8 defines bitumen as “a black or dark coloured

(solid, semi solid or viscous) substance, which occur naturally
or obtained in the petroleum processing, and composed
principally of high molecular weight hydrocarbons”

It is a viscoelastic and thermoplastic material that exhibits

adhesive and water proofing properties. Bitumen

Several sources consider it as the mankind’s oldest

engineering material.

It is most expensive ingredient in bituminous road

construction.

It should not be confused with similar looking material

Bitumen heating at Bitumen storage tanks at
known as tar.
roadside hot mix plant
In American Specifications, the bitumen is recognized with
terms like “Asphalt”, “Asphalt Binder” and “Asphalt Cement”. (Image Courtesy www.shutterstock.com)
 TYPES OF PAVING BINDERS 189

Bitumen

Tar

Cutback

Emulsion

Modified Binders
Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB)

PMB-E PMB-P

Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen (NRMB)

Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen (CRMB)

BITUMEN VS TAR 190
 USES OF BITUMEN : FROM PAST TO PRESENT 191

Since 6000BC, bitumen has been utilized as binder

& waterproofing material in various applications.
• Noah’s Ark (Old Testament)
• Sumerian Civilization (Ship Building)
• Babylonian Civilization (Castle Construction
(Babel Tower))
• Egyptians Civilization (Mummification &
Waterproofing)
• In Indus Valley Civilization (The great bath)

Application of bitumen in pavement construction

• In India and Persia, bitumen joined bricks were
used for pavements (2400 BC)
• North Western Europe, Roman Log roads (100 BC)
• Paris-Seyssel Mastic for footpath (1837 AD) Uses of Bitumen in Several Applications
• Natural bitumen is used for pavement construction
(Complete list of 250 uses can be found at Page 4 of “The Shell Bitumen Handbook,
at Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. (1876 Fifth Edition”)
AD)
• Since 1900s, the development of petroleum
refining process significantly reduce the use of
natural bitumen in road construction
 NATURAL AND MANUFACTURED BITUMEN 192

NATURAL BITUMEN
• Natural bitumen forms due to natural mutation of petroleum
happen million years ago under the influence of bacteria.

• Bacterial decomposition of petroleum resulted in reduced

content of saturated hydrocarbons, which became heavier and
more viscous, taking the form of bitumen

• Until the beginning of 20th century, bitumen is obtained as a

natural product, and have three major sources:
Trinidad Lake Asphalt
1) Dead Sea (Oldest source of natural asphalt)
2) Trinidad Island (Lake asphalt of Trinidad) (Largest source of (Image Courtesy: https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-
desk/materials/asphalt/)
natural bitumen)
3) Rock Asphalt (Gilsonite) (Alberta, United States and East
Venezuela are the largest sources)

• Natural bitumen are significantly harder (low penetration)

than conventional bitumen, due to which they are usually not
preferred in paving applications.
 NATURAL AND MANUFACTURED BITUMEN 193

CRUDE IN INDIA
• Today 75% of the petroleum crude used in India is
imported from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Russia,
and Libya

• Few Indigenous regions of petroleum crude are Assam,

KG Basin in Andhra Pradesh, Khambhat in Gujarat,
Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, Barmer in Rajasthan, and Bombay
High in Maharashtra.

• Crude is usually classified using American Petroleum

Institute (API) gravity values

• API = (141.5/SG) – 131.5

API Increases
• SG = Specific gravity of crude at 10 ℃
≈ Density of Crude Decreases
• Higher API indicates lighter crude and Vice Versa ≈ Cost of Crude Increases
≈ Bitumen Production Decreases
 NATURAL AND MANUFACTURED BITUMEN 194

MANUFACTURED BITUMEN
• Clause 4 of IS: 73 (2013) “Paving Bitumen
Specification” clearly states that “Bitumen shall be
prepared by the refining of crude petroleum using
suitable methods”. 1
2
• Crude is subjected to fractional distillation process.

• The entire refining process can be divided into four

steps:
1) Heating of crude oil
2) Preparation of Long Residue 3
3) Preparation of Short Residue
4) Processing of Short Residue
4

Simplified Representation of Crude Oil Refining Process

(Image Courtesy: Nikolaidas, 2015)
195
 COMPOSITION OF BITUMEN 196

Maltenes Molecular Weight

Increase

Greater is the Asphaltene content in the bitumen, higher will be its viscosity and hardness
 DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF BITUMEN 197

A good bitumen should have the following properties:

• It should be highly adhesive in nature.
• It should be insoluble in water and should serve as a waterproofing agent.
• It should also have sufficient strength to resist different live & dead loads.
• It should bind all construction materials together for a long time in adverse weather condition.
• It must be workable during the construction phase and must be rigid in the operation phase.
• It must be available at a low cost.
• It should be hard enough to resist the action of loads and chemicals.
• It should have low temperature susceptibility.
• It should have good ductility which permits it to undergo great deformation or elongation.
• Its viscosity should not be very low as well as very high because high viscosity leads to difficulties in the
application of bitumen and low viscosity leads to improper binding of materials as it flows fast.
• The bitumen should contain minimum water to prevent foaming of the bitumen when it is heated above the
boiling point of water.
• When bitumen is heated, it leaves out volatiles and causes a loss in mass or weight. So, loss of bitumen on
heating should be minimum.
• It should be highly resistive against chemicals.
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 198

Physical testing of paving bitumen can be categorized as follows

- Consistency tests: Penetration, Softening point, Dynamic Viscosity, and Kinematic Viscosity

- Purity test

- Safety tests: Flash and Fire Point Test

- Other tests: Specific gravity and ductility Test

 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 199

CONSISTENCY TESTS

• Consistency refers to the degree of fluidity of bitumen

at any particular temperature.

• Since bitumen is a thermoplastic material, its

consistency varies with the temperature.

• The analysis of the consistency of bitumen is done at Penetration Testing Test Setup
three temperatures: Apparatus (ASTM D5 or IS:
1203)
25℃ : Average annual pavement surface temperature
60℃ : Maximum pavement surface temperature
135℃ : Approximate mixing and laydown temperature

• The two popularly known empirical tests to measure

the consistency of bitumen are:
Softening Point Test Setup
1. Penetration Test Apparatus (ASTM D36 or IS: 1205)
(Image Courtesy: www. https://www.civil.iitb.ac.in/tvm/1100_LnTs/plain.html)
2. Softening Point Test (Ring and Ball test)
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 200

CONSISTENCY TESTS

Test Setup
(ASTM D5 or IS:
1203)

Demonstration: https://ts-nitk.vlabs.ac.in/exp/penetration-
test/simulation.html Penetration Testing
Apparatus
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 201

CONSISTENCY TESTS

Softening Point
Apparatus

Demonstration: https://ts-nitk.vlabs.ac.in/exp/softening-point-test/simulation.html Test Setup

(ASTM D36 or IS: 1205)
(Image Courtesy: www. https://www.civil.iitb.ac.in/tvm/1100_LnTs/plain.html)
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 202

CONSISTENCY TESTS
Absolute Viscosity at 60℃

• Absolute or dynamic viscosity can simply be defined as the

internal resistance to flow when being sheared

• It indirectly indicates the resistance offered by bitumen

against rutting.
Test setup for Absolute
• It is measured using Cannon Manning Viscometer viscosity measurement Cannon Manning
(ASTM D2171) Viscometer
Kinematic Viscosity at 135℃

• Kinematic Viscosity is the ratio of dynamic viscosity of fluid to

its density.

• Bitumen should have minimum Kinematic Viscosity to prevent

the formation of tender mixes at field.

• As opposed to the empirical tests, viscosities are the

fundamental properties of bitumen.

Demonstration: Various viscometers to measure kinematic viscosity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NDjfKhkOn8&t=65s (ASTM D2170)
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 203

CONSISTENCY TESTS
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 204

PURITY TEST (SOLUBILITY TEST)

• A sample of 2gm bitumen is mixed with 100gm of Carbon
disulphide or carbon tetrachloride. The mixture is then
passed through filter paper and the weight of retained
(insoluble) mass of bitumen is taken.

• The weight of retained mass should not be greater than

1% of original weight.

Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YllT_0h3bFQ&t=18s

Solubility Test with Gooch Crucible (IS 1216)

PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 205

SAFETY TEST (FLASH & FIRE POINT TEST)

Flash and Fire Point Test (Pensky Martens

Apparatus)

Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR7q4-ilENA
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 206

OTHER TESTS

Specific Gravity Test (Density Bottle)

Demonstration: https://ts-nitk.vlabs.ac.in/exp/specific-gravity-test/simulation.html
 PHYSICAL TESTING OF BITUMEN 207

Demonstration: https://ts-nitk.vlabs.ac.in/exp/ductility-
test/simulation.html

Ductility Test (Ductility Machine)

 GRADING OF BITUMEN
- Chewing test
- Penetration grade
- Viscosity grade
- Performance grade

Penetration grade: IS 73-1950: Specification for asphaltic bitumen and

fluxed mastic asphalt for road making purposes; revised in 1961:
IS 73: 1992; Waxy and non-waxy grades; grading done on basis of
consistency at intermediate pavement temperature (25°C) (Was
introduced in 1918 in US)

Viscosity grade: IS 73: 2006, 2013; based on absolute viscosity at 60 °C;

minimum viscosity at 135 °C has been imposed for workability; VG 10 to
VG 40; number of tests reduced as compared to 1992. (Was introduced
in 1960 in US)

Currently India is following Viscosity graded binder specification. (PG

grading has been adopted by US since 1990)
CUTBACK
CUTBACK
BITUMEN EMULSION
TYPES OF EMULSION