Bitumen

Bitumen is an essential component of any pavement and is used widely

throughout the world. Almost ninety percent of bitumen is used in road
construction. It is usually available in dark colors ranging from brown to black.
The main purpose of bitumen in flexible pavements is to strongly bind and hold
the other pavement components together and provide a smooth and leveled
surface for the moving vehicles. Bitumen is a naturally occurring material and is
found in large quantities in the solid or semi-solid forms of petroleum. It is also
manufactured artificially in vast amounts globally.
Bitumen mixed with some other materials has always been used as a
sealant and adhesive material over the ages. It was also widely used in the water
proofing of boats and ships as it is insoluble in water. Highest applications of
bitumen are found in the construction filed for the construction of roads, airports
etc, in the hydraulic field for the construction of water tanks, dams, bridges etc,
is also used in battery making, tyre making and for the thermal and acoustic
insulation purposes.

Materials in bituminous family are:

1) Tar:
Coal tar is a brown or dark black liquid of high viscosity, which smells of
naphthalene and aromatic hdydrocarbons.
2) Coal Tar:
It is the liquid by-product of the distillation of coal to make coke. The gaseous byproduct of this process is commonly known as town gas. It is used for coating of
wooden poles and sleepers, iron poles.
3) Wood Tar:
It is obtained by the distillation of resinous wood. Wood tar contains creosote and
as such has strong preservative properties.
4) Mineral Tar:
It is obtained by the distillation of bituminous shale.
5) Coal Tar Pitch:
It is the residue of the direct distillation of crude tar produced by the high
temperature carbonization of coal. It is used as a water proofing compound in
masonry, steel and timber structure. It is also used for water
proofing concrete structures.

Chemical Composition of Bitumen:

Molecular weight wise, bitumen is a mixture of about 300 - 2000 chemical
components, with an average of around 500 - 700. Elementally, it is around 95%
carbon and hydrogen ( 87% carbon and 8% hydrogen), and up to 5% sulfur,
1% nitrogen, 1% oxygen and 2000ppm metals. Bitumens are composed mainly
of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They also contain several
elements, a number of which are toxic.
Bitumens Properties
1. Adhesion: Bitumen has the ability to adhere to a solid surface in a fluid
state depending on the nature of the surface. The presence of water on
the surface will prevent adhesion.
2. Resistance to Water: Bitumen is water resistant. Under some conditions
water may be absorbed by minute quantities of inorganic salts in the
bitumen or filler in it.
3. Hardness: To measure the hardness of bitumen, the penetration test is
conducted, which measures the depth of penetration in tenths of mm. of a
weighted needle in bitumen after a given time, at a known temperature.
Commonly a weight of 100 gm is applied for 5 sec at a temperature of 77
F. The penetration is a measure of hardness. Typical results are 10 for
hard coating asphalt, 15 to 40 for roofing asphalt and up to 100 or more
for water proofing bitumen.
4. Viscosity and Flow: The viscous or flow properties of bitumen are of
importance both at high temperature during processing and application
and at low temperature to which bitumen is subjected during service. The
flow properties of bitumens vary considerably with temperature and stress
conditions. Deterioration, or loss of the desirable properties of bitumen,
takes the form of hardening. Resultantly, decrease in adhesive and flow
properties and an increase in the softening point temperature and
coefficient of thermal expansion.
5. Softening point: Softening point is the temperature at which a steel ball
falls a known distance through the bitumen when the test assembly is
heated at a known rate. Usually the test consist of a (3/8)in dia steel ball,
weight 3.5 gm, which is allowed to sink through a (5/8) in dia, (1/4) in thick
disk of bitumen in a brass ring. The whole assembly is heated at a rate of
9 F per min. Typical values would be 240 F for coating grade asphalts,
140 F to 220 F for roofing asphalt and down to 115 F for bituminous
water proofing material.
6. Ductility: Ductility test is conducted to determine the amount bitumen
will stretch at temperature below its softening point.
A briquette having a cross sectional area of 1 in 2 is placed in a tester at 77
F. Ductility values ranges from 0 to over 150 depending on the type of
bitumen.

7. Versatile: Bitumen is a relatively easy to use material because of its thermoplastic

property. It can be spread easily along the underlying pavement layers as it liquefies
when heated making the job easier and hardens in a solid mass when cooled.
8. Economical: It is available in cheaper rates almost all over the world

Soil
Very coarse
soils

BOULDERS

> 200 mm

COBBLES

60 - 200 mm

G
GRAVEL
Coarse
soils
S
SAND

Fine
soils

M
SILT

coarse

20 - 60 mm

medium

6 - 20 mm

fine

2 - 6 mm

coarse

0.6 - 2.0 mm

medium

0.2 - 0.6 mm

fine

0.06 - 0.2 mm

coarse

0.02 - 0.06 mm

medium

0.006 - 0.02 mm

fine

0.002 - 0.006 mm

C CLAY

< 0.002 mm

Natural soils are rarely the same from one point in the ground to
another. The content and nature of grains varies, but more
importantly, so does the arrangement of these.
The arrangement and organisation of particles and other features
within a soil mass is termed its structure or fabric. This includes
bedding orientation, stratification, layer thickness, the occurrence of
joints and fissures, the occurrence of voids, artefacts, tree roots and
nodules, the presence of cementing or bonding agents between
grains.
Structural features can have a major influence on in situ properties.
Vertical and horizontal permeabilities will be different in
alternating layers of fine and coarse soils.
The presence of fissures affects some aspects of strength.
The presence of layers or lenses of different stiffness can affect
stability.
The presence of cementing or bonding influences strength and
stiffness.

Bibliography
Davison, D. L. (2000, May). University of The West of The England. Retrieved 09
15, 2015, from Soil Description and Classification:
http://environment.uwe.ac.uk/geocal/SoilMech/classification/soilclas.htm#
CLASSSTATE
Khan, H. J. (2014). Composition And Bitumen Properties. Retrieved 09 15, 2015,
from Civil Engineering Portal: www.abotcivil.org