CEG552 HIGHWAY & TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

AGGREGATE IMPACT TEST

OPEN ENDED LAB LEVEL 1

PREAMBLE Introduction
When a road aggregate has been manufactured to a specified grading it is
stockpiled, loaded into trucks, transported, tipped, spread and compacted. If
the aggregate is weak, some degradation may take place and result in a
change ingrading and/or the production of excessive and undesirable fines.
Thus, an aggregate complying with a specification at the quarry may fail to do
so when it is in the pavement.Granular base layers and surfacings are
subjected to repeated loadings from truck tyres and the stress at the contact
points of aggregate particles can be quite high.These crushing tests can
reveal aggregate properties subject to mechanical degradation of this form.
Objectives
The objective of this study is to assess the resistance of an aggregate to
mechanical degradation by the Aggregate Impact Test.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this activity, the students should be able to:
1. Determine the toughness (impact value) of aggregates
PROBLEM Toughness is the property of a material to resist impact. Due to traffic loads,
STATEMENT the road stones are subjected to the pounding action or impact and there is
possibility of stones breaking into smaller pieces. The road stones should
therefore be tough enough to resist fracture under impact.
WAYS & The apparatus consists of a steel test mould with a falling hammer as shown
MEANS in Figure 1. The hammer slides freely between vertical guides so arranged
that the lower part of the hammer is above and concentric with the mould.

1. Prepare the material that is the aggregate passing a 12.70 mm sieve and
retained on a 9.52 mm sieve. It shall be clean and dry (washed if
necessary) but it must not be dried for longer than 4 hours nor at a
temperature higher than 110 oC otherwise certain aggregates may be
damaged.

2. Place the whole of the test sample (mass A) in the steel mould and
compact the sample by a single tamping of 25 strokes of the tamping rod.

3. Deliver 15 blows of the hammer dropping 381 mm on the test sample, each
should be delivered at an interval not less than one second.

4. Sieve the crushed aggregate over a 2.36 mm sieve.

5. Weigh the fraction passing 2.36 mm to the nearest 0.1 g (mass B).

6. Also weigh the fraction retained on the sieve (mass C). If {A-(B+C)}>1 gram,
the result shall be discarded and a fresh test made.
 Figure 1: Apparatus for the aggregate impact test

Reference:

1. Ref. Standard Procedure : ArahanTeknik (Jalan) 5/85

2. SS (1974). SS73:1974 Specification for methods for sampling and testing of
mineral aggregates, sand and fillers - Determination of aggregate impact
value, aggregate crushing value and ten percent fines value. Singapore
Standard, Singapore.

RESULTS The group is required to submit a technical report within a week to present the study.
In the report, you should include the proper procedure, analysis of data and the
outcome of the study.