A Study on Effect of Addition of Natural Rubber on the Properties of Bitumen & Bituminous Mixes

Author(s):

K Sai Nanda Kishore , ANDHRA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING; Anirudh Gottala, AN

Keywords:

Natural Rubber (Balloons), Bitumen, Bitumen Modifier

Abstract:

Many studies have been done to find other alternative material to use as modifiers in bitumen mixes on the improvement of its properties and highway quality. In this research Natural Rubber latex (in the form of balloons) has been used as bitumen modifier. Proper blending of bitumen with Natural Rubber in fixed proportion confers good elastic recovery to the blend. Incorporation of 2-4% natural rubber into bitumen thus improves the property of the later substantially. The Rubberized bitumen formed minimizes permanent deformations due to overload on the road and thus unaffected by the changes in atmospheric temperature and improves skid resistance. Rubber increases resistance to flow of bitumen at higher temperature and improves the resistance to brittle fracture at low temperature. Bitumen is sensitive to rate of traffic load and temperature susceptibility. The behaviours of the two modifiers were investigated by comprehensive laboratory testing and evaluation. It was observed that the addition of natural rubber gave better overall performance in the bituminous mixes. Thus, this shows natural rubber may contribute toward better flexible roads in the future. The above properties increase the service life of rubberized roads in many cases to more than hundred percent when compared to that of bituminous roads. Thus, Rubberization of roads will combine savings with safety.

Other Details:

Manuscript Id	:	IJSTEV2I1067
Published in	:	Volume : 2, Issue : 1
Publication Date	:	01/08/2015
Page(s)	:	206-212

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