LABORATORY STUDIES ON COLD MIXES USING BITUMEN EMULSIONS

Abstract

The use of Bitumen Emulsions in highway construction and maintanence works is increasing worldwide due to its inherent advantages of being ecological friendly and energy saving product. Recent years have seen new developments in cold mix technology with introduction of modified binders, emulsifiers and additives that improve the properties of bitumen emulsions. Reported use of emulsions in some countries is upto 40% of the total quantity of bitumen consumption. Bitumen emulsions based cold mix technology is used for surface bonding, crack sealing, patching, surfacing, cold mix recycling, etc. in all weather conditions. In India use of bitumen emulsions is about 1.45% of the total bitumen used in highway related applications and is certainly far below the international trends, particularly when it is not a new material and its properties and potentialities are well known. Since 1990 extensive laboratory studies and research works have been undertaken for development of designs and construction techniques in cold mix technology to suit Indian climatic conditions and construction materials available, under the guidance of IRC, CRRI and MOST. Despite of these developments, the growth in use of bitumen emulsion in India has been very slow. The main reason for this is the lack of consideration for the users needs. All efforts should be directed to take into account the user requirements based on practical experiences, while developing designs and construction techniques, and introducing construction equipment specific to cold mix technology. These should also be a simultaneous effort to ensure proper quality control during production of bitumen emulsion and it should meet the prescribed requirements.