Modification of Bitumen Using Sustainable Materials for Pavement Design

Abstract

Construction materials will be in the extinction stage in the future. Use of the waste materials to ensure environmental protection is the need of hour. For the construction of essential infrastructure like flexible pavement requires bitumen. Bitumen obtained as a petroleum refinery by-product used for construction of flexible pavement is on the verge of extinction, since natural oil petroleum is a non-renewable resource. Again low life of bitumen due to oxidation is another problem. Hence, it is important to use potential modifiers to partially substitute and enhance the life of bitumen and flexible pavements. In this paper use of numerous modifiers and their possible effects on bitumen and bituminous mix strength and toughness are described by researchers. Different modifiers such as polypropylene, Nano montmorillonite, Nano-silica, Nano-clay, Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Styrene Butadiene Styrene (SBS), High-Density Poly-Ethylene (HDPE), Carbon Nano-Tubes (CNT), graphene, Graphene Oxide (GO), fly ash, cloisite, evotherm, Cecabase Rt, Nano fill, rubber waste, crumb rubber etc. were used for modification of bitumen. Binder proportions are approximately similar on the other hand percentages of modifiers used differ mostly by researchers. It is evident from the literature that the optimal proportion of modifier would only yield improved performance. However, the quality of the modifiers shows a key part, to fulfil the requirements of the ideal pavement and increased life carefully chosen based on the soil conditions and environmental circumstances.