Bituminous Road Binders

BITUMINOUS ROAD BINDERS

• Bitumen is a viscous liquid or solid material, black
or dark brown in colour, having adhesive
properties, consisting essentially of
hydrocarbons, derived from petroleum or
occurring in natural asphalt, and soluble in
carbon disulphide.
• There are two main categories of bitumen’s,

namely, those which occur naturally and those
which are by-products of the fractional
distillation of petroleum at a refinery.
• Lake asphalt. The largest natural deposit of bitumen in
the world occurs on the island of Trinidad off the north
coast of South America. The bitumen is found in
conjunction with a substantial amount of solid mineral
matter and the combination is known as asphalt.
• Natural rock asphalt. This consists of a granular

material, usually limestone or sandstone, which in its
natural state contains bitumen intimately dispersed
throughout its mass. The bitumen content of natural
rock asphalt varies from 4 to 18 per cent, the
remainder of the material being solid mineral matter.
• Refinery bitumen’s. These are bitumen’s artificially
produced by the industrial refining of crude petroleum oils.
Not all petroleum crudes contain a sufficient quantity of
bitumen to enable straight reduction to specification road
bitumen.
• Those, which do, are known as asphaltic-base crudes.

Crudes, which contain high proportions of simpler
paraffinic compounds, with little or no bituminous bodies
present, are known as paraffinic-base crudes. Some
petroleum crudes exhibit characteristics of both the
previous categories, and these are known as mixed-base
crudes.
• Penetration-grade bitumen’s. Bitumen’s obtained by
fractional distillation are mostly what are called
penetration-grade bitumen’s. These are also known by
the names ‘asphaltic bitumen’s’ and ‘asphalt cements’.
• They vary in consistency from semi-solid at room

temperature to semi-liquid under the same conditions.
Asphaltic bitumen’s are classified according to
hardness as indicated by the depth that a specified
needle is able to enter the samples when standard
penetration tests are carried out.
• In a particular refinery, a bitumen of a desired
penetration may be obtained either by
controlled refining, or by fluxing a harder
grade with an oil of high boiling range such as
is produced at the lower end of the
fractionating column during distillation of the
topped crude oil.
• Cutback bitumen’s. The penetration-grade
bitumen’s range from being very viscous to semi-
solid in consistency at normal temperatures, so it
is normal for them to be heated before use in
road construction.
• There are many instances, however, where it is

neither desirable nor necessary to use a hard
bitumen and preference is given to the use of
liquid binders such as the cutback bitumen’s.
• Cutbacks differ from penetration-grade bitumen’s
in that the asphaltic bitumen is dissolved in a
liquid solvent, which makes it suitable for direct
application and manipulation in road
construction.
• While the solvent is primarily a substitute for

heat, in many instances it is more useful than
heat since its liquefying effect lasts over a longer
period of time.
• After a cutback bitumen has been spread on the
particles it is intended to bind, the solvent will
dissipate itself by evaporation and leave behind the
cementitious bitumen to tie the particles together.
• Thus the character and behaviour of a cutback bitumen

in any particular situation is largely dependent on the
character and amount of solvent present. The more
volatile the solvent, the shorter the curing period
necessary after using the cutback before the cohesive
properties of the binder are utilized.
• Cutback bitumen’s can be divided into three main
types, depending on the type of solvent used to
dilute the bitumen. These are commonly
designated as slow curing (S.C), Medium curing
(M.C.), and Rapid curing (R.C.) cutback bitumen’s.
• Slow curing cutback bitumen’s are more liable to

remain liquid in or on the roadways for a
relatively long time and so the binding strength is
developed correspondingly slowly.
• For this reason these cut-backs are best used
with dense graded aggregates which provide a
strong interlocking framework and do not require
immediate, strong, cementing action from the
binder.
• The designations for the various grades of S.C

cutbacks are based on the kinematic viscosities of
the mixtures, with the designation number set at
each grade’s lower viscosity limit, while the upper
limit is exactly double the lower limit.
• Medium curing cutback bitumen’s are manufactured
by combining 100/300 penetration- grade bitumen’s
with a petroleum distillate, such as kerosene, or with a
coal-tar creosote oil.
• Medium curing cut-backs have good aggregate coating

properties, so they are very useful when fine-grained
and dusty materials are incorporated in a road surface
and it is desired to use a binder which is less viscous at
the time of processing than after the mixture has cured
for some time.
• Rapid curing cutback bitumen’s are prepared
by diluting a suitable penetration-grade
bitumen with a very volatile petroleum
distillate such as gasoline or naphtha. Since
the volatile constituents of these cutbacks
quickly evaporate, they are used when a quick
change-back to the residual semi-solid binding
agent is desired.
• The volatility of the distillate, i.e. it has a
relatively low flash point, can render their use
hazardous, particularly when the very viscous
grades, which may have to be warmed before
admixing, are used in road construction.
• Bitumen emulsions. An emulsion is a relatively
stable suspension of one liquid in a state of
minute subdivision, dispersed throughout
another liquid in which it is not soluble.
• Emulsifiers. Most of the important properties of

an emulsion are dependent on the amount and
type of emulsifying agent used to promote the
dispersal and stability of the bitumen-water
mixture.
• Where it not for the emulsifier the dispersion of the
bitumen, which may be brought about by rapid stirring,
would quickly re-form into a separate layer once agitation is
stopped.
• When a suitable emulsifier is added, it forms an absorbed

film about each dispersed droplet of bitumen and gives to
each a protective coating, which provides resistance to
coalescence.
• Emulsifiers used in the preparation of bitumen emulsions

belong to two main categories, known as anionic and
cationic emulsifiers.
• Mechanism of action. Proper usage of bitumen emulsions
is heavily dependent on a proper understanding of how
‘breaking’ of the emulsion takes place in the roadway.
Breakdown of anionic emulsions is primarily dependent on
the following four factors:
• Rate of evaporation of water. The evaporation of water

commences immediately on application of the emulsion.
The rate at which it happens is dependent on the
atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity,
and the rate and method of emulsion application. The rate
of evaporation is by far the most important factor-
influencing breakdown.
• The physico-chemical reaction between the
aggregate and the emulsion. This is dependent
on the charges carried by the coated droplets and
the aggregate particles. When an aggregate is
very siliceous, the negatively charged anionic
droplets may not attach themselves to the
negatively charged aggregate surfaces and use
must then be made of a positively charged
cationic emulsion.
• The absorption qualities of the surface being covered.
Obviously the more porous and dry the road surface
and/or the aggregate surface being coated, the more
quickly emulsion is absorbed by capillary action.
• The amount of mechanical disturbance applied during

compaction. As evaporation and moisture absorption
take place, the emulsified bitumen particles come
closer and closer together and eventually coalesce. The
breakdown may be accelerated by compacting the
aggregate-emulsion mixture, thereby causing further
coalescence of the bitumen.
Binder tests and their significance

• The most careful specifications with regard to the design and
construction of a bituminous road surfacing are of little value if the
properties of the bituminous binder used in the design are not
adequately controlled.
• To aid the engineer in ensuring that the material obtained has the
desired qualities, a number of tests have been devised which
attempt to measure various binder properties for particular
reasons.
• It is most convenient to discuss tests on binders by dividing them

into the following four categories: 1. Consistency tests 2.
Composition tests 3. Specific gravity test 4. Flash and fire point
tests.
• Consistency tests
By consistency is meant the resistance of a material to flow.

Since this property varies as the temperature changes,
while the binders themselves may range from very thin
liquids to semi-solids, it can be appreciated why there is no
single method of test, which can readily evaluate all
bituminous binders for consistency over such a wide range.
• Instead there are a number of tests, each of which has

certain advantages under specific conditions. The ones of
importance are the penetration, viscosity and softening
point tests.
• Penetration test. This test consists of
determining how far a standard needle will
penetrate vertically into the binder under
standard conditions of temperature, load and
time. The standard test conditions are 25 C, 100g
and 5seconds.
• The results obtained are expressed in units of

penetration, where one unit is equal to 1/10 mm.
• Significance of test. The penetration test
measures the consistency of semi-solid asphaltic
bitumen’s so that they can be classified into
standard grades.
• Penetration-grade refinery bitumen’s are known

to reduce in penetration with age and to develop
cracking tendencies. Penetration values below 20
have been associated with bad cracking of road
surfacing, while cracking rarely occurs when the
penetration exceeds 30.
• It is not known whether cracking is directly
due to loss of penetration; it is more probable
that both cracking and loss in penetration are
due to a more basic change in the bitumen.
• The penetration test, when carried out at

different temperatures, can also determine
the temperature susceptibility of a bitumen.
• Viscosity tests. The viscosity of a liquid is the
property that retards flow so that when a force is
applied to a liquid, the slower the movement of
the liquid, and the higher the viscosity; in this
sense viscosity is a ‘pure’ measure of consistency.
• Most bitumen binder specifications for

roadworks are based on the results obtained with
industrial viscometers, which utilize the principle
of the flow of a liquid through a tube. The most
common is the Standard Tar Viscometer (S.T.V).
• The S.T.V test measures the time, in seconds,
for a fixed quantity of the binder liquid (50 ml)
to flow from a cup through a standard orifice
under an initial standard head and at a known
test temperature.
• While two sizes of orifices are standardized at

10 and 4mm, in practice the 10mm one is the
most used.
• Because of the great variation of time
required for a given amount of the different
binders to flow through the orifice, it is not
practical with this viscometer to determine
the viscosity of all bituminous binders at the
same temperature, so different temperatures
are used for particular materials.
• Significance of viscosity tests. The viscosity of a
bituminous binder is its most important physical
characteristic. Hence viscosity measurements are
useful not only in ensuring that the material with the
desired properties has been obtained, but also as a
means of selecting binders for specific uses.
• If a binder with too low a viscosity is pre-mixed with an

aggregate, it may flow off the stone en route from the
mixing plant. Conversely, if the viscosity is too high, the
mixture may be unworkable by the time it reaches the
site.
• If too low a viscosity is used for surface
dressing purposes, the result may be
‘bleeding’ or a loss of chippings under traffic.
With low- viscosity binders, there is generally
less chance of pumping pipes becoming
blocked, mixing and application temperatures
can be kept lower, and aggregates are more
easily coated.
• Ductility test. A ductile material is one, which
elongates when in tension. The ductility of a
bituminous binder is expressed as the distance in
centimeters that a standard semi-solid briquette
will elongate before breaking. The minimum cross
section of the briquette before testing is 1 sq.cm.
Normally the test is carried out on semi-solid
asphaltic bitumen’s and the residues from
cutback bitumen’s; they are tested at a
temperature of 25 degrees centigrade and at an
extension rate of 5cm/min.
• Significance of test. The ductility test is
actually a measure of the internal cohesion of
a bitumen. Since bitumen’s possessing high
ductility are normally cementitious and
adhere well to aggregates, the test is better
used as a measure of whether or not ductility
is present in the material, rather than as a
means of determining the exact degree of
ductility available.
• Thus bitumen with 100cm ductility might well be
considered a better road surfacing constituent than
one with 10cm ductility, but a binder with 80cm
ductility is not necessarily better than a 60cm one.
• Bitumen’s possessing high ductility are also usually

highly susceptible to temperature changes, while low
ones are not. The lack of ductility does not necessarily
indicate poor quality; indeed, bitumen’s of low
susceptibility and low ductility are highly desirable as
crack fillers in roadways.
• Softening point test. The ring and ball (R and B)
softening point test is also extensively used to
evaluate the consistency of bituminous binders.
In this test a 9.53 mm diameter steel ball (of mass
3.5 g) is placed on a binder sample held by a steel
ring and immersed in a water bath. The water is
heated until it reaches a temperature at which
the test sample is sufficiently soft to allow the
ball, enveloped in binder, to fall through a height
of 2.5 cm. The water temperature at which this
occurs is read to the nearest 0.5oC and called the
ring and ball softening point.
• Significance of test. The softening point is not a melting
point; bituminous binders do not melt but instead gradually
change from semi-solids to liquids on the application of
heat. The method of test is entirely arbitrary and must be
carried out if the results are to be of value.
• The method is useful for determining the temperature-

susceptibilities of bitumen’s which are to be used in thick
films, such as crack fillers. When two bitumen’s have the
same penetration value, the one with the higher softening
point is normally less susceptible to temperature changes.
• Durability tests
• Bitumen and tar specifications contain criteria which relates to the

control of hardening of the binders.
• Loss-on heating test. In this test, which is used on refinery

bitumen’s, pitch-bitumen’s, and mixtures of Trinidad Lake asphalt
and refinery bitumen, a 50 g sample of the binder is placed in a
small container and left for 5 hr in a revolving-shelf oven, the
temperature of which is maintained at 165oC. At the end of the
heating period, the sample is cooled to room temperature and its
mass is determined. The loss in mass is expressed as a percentage
of the original mass.
• The penetration test is also often carried out on
the residue of the loss-on-heating test. The result
obtained is then expressed as a percentage of the
penetration of the bitumen before heating.
• Significance of test. There are ample

performance data to show that the hardness of
the binder is the one property most closely
associated with the satisfactory continued
performance of a bituminous pavement.
• All heated bitumen binders harden during storage and
transportation, whilst all binders harden during mixing
and laying. During the subsequent life of the
pavement, the binders further harden under the
combined environmental effects of temperature,
oxygen, sunlight, rainwater, oil deposition and traffic.
Hard binders fracture more easily in cold weather and
weather more easily under heavy traffic.
• The loss-on heating test is essentially an accelerated

volatilization test which has as its main aim the control
of bitumen hardening during storage.
• Composition tests
• Most binder specifications include criteria

regarding composition. To ensure that these
composition specifications are met, a number
of tests have been developed to determine
the proportions of the specific fractions and
components of the bituminous binders.
• Distillation tests. Distillation tests are used to determine
the quantity and quality of the volatile constituents and the
amount of non-volatile residues present tar-containing
binders, cutback bitumen’s, and binder emulsions. In
emulsions, the volatile constituent is, of course, primarily
water.
• The distillation tests for cutbacks, tars and emulsions differ

somewhat in procedure. Essentially, however, all involve
heating a specified quantity of the binder in a standard
flask or still at a specified rate, and then determining the
amount of distillate removed at prescribed standard
temperatures.
• Significance of tests. The distillation tests are amongst the
most valuable of the highway tests for bituminous binders
in that they ensure the production of binders of consistent
quality for use in road schemes.
• Distillation tests carried out on tar-containing binders and

cutback bitumen’s can also provide useful information both
on the type of volatiles in the binder, and on the rate at
which these volatiles will be lost under field conditions. For
instance, if a given cutback is known to lose its volatiles too
slowly under certain conditions, then under similar
conditions a cutback with higher boiling range volatiles-as
determined by the distillation test-can be expected to cure
even more slowly.
• The residue left from the distillation test can
also provide useful information. While there is
no guarantee that the residue is the same as
either the base bitumen in the cutback or the
material left in the road surfacing after curing,
it is sufficiently similar to justify examination
for characteristics measured by means of the
standard consistency tests.
• Water content test. While, of course, the moisture
content of a binder is automatically determined when
a distillation test is carried out, there are occasions
when it is desirable to determine the moisture content
alone, without carrying out a complete distillation
procedure. In such instances, the moisture content
may be determined ‘directly’ by mixing a specified
amount of binder with a predetermined amount of
petroleum spirit with which it is immiscible, and
distilling in a flask or still which is attached to a glass
water-cooled reflux condenser and a graduated
receiver.
• Distillation is continued until the volume of water
in the receiver is constant. This volume is then
expressed as a percentage by mass of the original
material.
• Significance of test. Bituminous binders should

only contain extremely low moisture contents if
they are to be heated beyond 100oC, i.e. if
significant quantities of water are present,
foaming of the binder will occur.
• Ash content test. The ash content of a bitumen is the
percentage by mass of inorganic residue left after ignition
of the sample. In the course of the test, a known amount of
the sample is gently heated until it begins to burn, and then
it is fired until the ash is free from carbon.
• Significance of test. This test is carried out on both

penetration-grade and cutback bitumen’s. With refinery
bitumen’s, the test is used to ensure that undesirable
amounts of mineral matter are not present; this is
particularly important with surface dressing materials.
• Solubility tests. In determining the percentage of
binder present in either bitumen or tar, different
solvents are normally used. In the case of
bitumen’s, the accepted solvent is
trichloroethene, while in tars it is toluene. In
either case, a specified quantity of binder-usually
2-5 g is dissolved in a given quantity of solvent.
After filtering the solution through a fine-porosity
filter, the residue retained is determined and the
percentage of soluble material is calculated by
difference.
• Significance of test. Insoluble material in refinery
bitumen’s is normally dirt and similar material
picked up in the course of storage, or else salt
which was not removed during the refining
process; those in natural bitumen’s are finely
divided mineral materials.
• Whichever binder is studied, solubility tests are

most useful in establishing the amount of actual
binder available for use in road surfacing.
• Density test. The density of a bituminous binder is its
mass per unit volume at a given temperature.
• Significance of test. The principal use of the density

test is in establishing the relationship between binder
mass and volume for invoicing and usage purposes.
Specifications for binders in road surfacing are
normally expressed as percentages by mass, whilst
they are usually shipped and measured by volume.
• Knowledge of the density can also be useful in

differentiating between different types of binder.
• Flash and fire point tests
• The flash point test is carried out by heating a sample of

the binder at a uniform rate, while periodically passing a
small flame across the surface of the material. The
temperature at which the vapors given off from the binder
first burn with a brief flash of blue flame is called the flash
point of the binder.
• If heating is maintained until the vapors continue to burn

for a period of at least 5 seconds, the temperature at which
this occurs is called the fire point.
• Significance of tests. The flash and fire point
tests are primarily safety tests, although they
may also be considered as indirect reflections
of binder volatility. The flash point is the more
important of the two, since it indicates the
maximum temperature to which the binder
can be safely heated. Safe practice requires
special precautions when temperatures in
excess of the flash point are used.
• The flash points of most penetration-grade
bitumen’s lie in the range 245-3350C, while
rapid-curing cutbacks may flash at
temperatures as low as 270C. Medium-curing
cutbacks usually flash between 52 and 990C,
while slow-curing ones have flash points
above 1100C. The fire point is of little
significance, and its use in specifications is
negligible.

Bituminous Road Binders

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BITUMINOUS ROAD BINDERS

BITUMINOUS ROAD BINDERS

• There are two main categories of bitumen’s,

• Natural rock asphalt. This consists of a granular

• Those, which do, are known as asphaltic-base crudes.

• They vary in consistency from semi-solid at room

• There are many instances, however, where it is

• While the solvent is primarily a substitute for

• Thus the character and behaviour of a cutback bitumen

• Slow curing cutback bitumen’s are more liable to

• The designations for the various grades of S.C

• Medium curing cut-backs have good aggregate coating

• Emulsifiers. Most of the important properties of

• When a suitable emulsifier is added, it forms an absorbed

• Emulsifiers used in the preparation of bitumen emulsions

• Rate of evaporation of water. The evaporation of water

• The amount of mechanical disturbance applied during

Binder tests and their significance

• It is most convenient to discuss tests on binders by dividing them

By consistency is meant the resistance of a material to flow.

• Instead there are a number of tests, each of which has

• The results obtained are expressed in units of

• Penetration-grade refinery bitumen’s are known

• The penetration test, when carried out at

• Most bitumen binder specifications for

• While two sizes of orifices are standardized at

• If a binder with too low a viscosity is pre-mixed with an

• Bitumen’s possessing high ductility are also usually

• The method is useful for determining the temperature-

• Bitumen and tar specifications contain criteria which relates to the

• Loss-on heating test. In this test, which is used on refinery

• Significance of test. There are ample

• The loss-on heating test is essentially an accelerated

• Most binder specifications include criteria

• The distillation tests for cutbacks, tars and emulsions differ

• Distillation tests carried out on tar-containing binders and

• Significance of test. Bituminous binders should

• Significance of test. This test is carried out on both

• Whichever binder is studied, solubility tests are

• Significance of test. The principal use of the density

• Knowledge of the density can also be useful in

• The flash point test is carried out by heating a sample of

• If heating is maintained until the vapors continue to burn

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