POLYMER MODIFIED BITUMEN

Abstract

Modified polymer bitumen has had a considerable influence over the last century in upgrading road pavements against different problems such as thermal cracking, rutting, and potholes, among others, by increasing the qualities of the basic commodity used in road manufacture, namely asphalt. In this report, we have focused on how the waste plastics could be brought to productive use to better the road. We know that a number of thermoplastics (LLDPE, PS, HDPE, LDPE, PE, etc.) are being heavily used in today's environment for various uses. These thermoplastics don't decompose for hundreds of years and just pile up and endanger aquatic life, soil and also pollute the air because they release toxic gases whenever they heat up. Thus, I used various pristine polymers mentioned earlier to use as a modifier for the base bitumen, and studies were carried out for the same to analyze whether it could be used or not. For a good understanding, I used thermoplastic elastomer Styrene Butadiene Styrene block copolymer as a standard reference to compare the conventional and rheological properties with the mentioned thermoplastics. SBS has been used extensively to enhance the properties of the asphalt pavement worldwide. Further, the study was carried out using some grafted polymers and compared to SBS again and was analyzed and concluded.