COMPARISON BETWEEN ZERO SHEAR VISCOSITY AND STEADY SHEAR FLOW METHODS TO DETERMINE MIXING AND COMPACTION TEMPERATURES OF PMB

COMPARISON BETWEEN ZERO SHEAR VISCOSITY AND STEADY SHEAR FLOW METHODS TO DETERMINE MIXING AND COMPACTION TEMPERATURES OF PMB

In order to obtain a better performance, different modifiers types have been adopted to complement the rheological characteristics of the bitumen used in the asphalt road construction. To bring the asphalt mixture to the desired workability, bitumen and aggregate must be heated at an elevated temperature before mixing. Thus, estimating mixing and compaction temperatures is necessary to achieve the required performance. The equiviscous method (ASTM D 2493) has been developed through the bitumen viscosity measurement to calculate the required mixing and compaction temperatures. But a problem with excessive temperatures resulted through the implementation of this method when it is applied for the modified bitumen. Insufficiency of the equiviscous method led to a necessary need to investigate for an alternative method which should be more applicable for the modified bitumen. In this study, two methods named Zero Shear Viscosity (ZSV) and Steady Shear Flow (SSF) have been examined to measure the applicability for the modified bitumen. For this purpose, 50/70 bitumen grade was modified with 5% elastomeric type – Styrene Butadiene Styrene (SBS), and 1.5 % Reactive Elastomeric Terpolymer type – Elvaloy (RET). The results have shown that the application of the new alternative methods resulted in lower mixing and compaction temperatures for the modified bitumen.  

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