A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BINDERS FOR BITUMINOUS MIXES

Abstract

Road connectivity is the backbone for socio-economic development of any country. The diverse nature of the Indian climate associated with the rapid growth of heavy vehicles in the past decades has created a greater impact on the pavements. To meet the demand of the superior road service, mix properties should be enhanced. Rutting and fatigue are the two major failure parameters of the flexible pavement. Use of polymer is one of the frequently used modification technique. This study focussed on using two neat binders: VG-10 and VG-30 and one polymer modified binder: PMB-40 for two mixes BC and DBM. Then a comparative study was carried out to see the improvement in the binder and mix properties upon the usage of the modified binder. Conventional tests on all the three binders were performed. Comparison of VG-10 and VG-30 rheological properties were carried out to get the idea of rutting and fatigue properties of the neat binders. Further properties of mixes for DBM and BC were compared by performing tests like Marshall Test, Retained Marshall Stability test, Indirect Tensile Strength test, wheel rut test and the four point bending beam test. PMB-40 showed better results compared with the two other neat binders in all the aspects.