Influence of the Variation in Material Constituents on the Properties of the Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen Blends

Abstract

The properties of the Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen (CRMB) are greatly influenced by the amount and type of the material constituents used in the perpetration of the blend. Moreover, characteristics of the crumb rubber (CR) are modifier on the basis of processing mechanism is mainly found to govern the properties of the CRMB. A fair amount of research was observed in the literature on the bitumen modified by CR processed cryogenically and ambiently. However, little or no work has been done on the CR processed by the other methods such as the Aquablast processing technique, which is a relatively a new waste tyre rubber processing technique within the CR industry. In this study, influence of the scrap tyre fracture technique on the properties of CRMB blends was investigated by looking at viscosity with a Brookfield viscometer. The study allowed concluding that the amount of CR significantly influences the behavior of the blend. Based on the allowable limits of the specifications, 15% CR concentration in the blend met all the viscosity requirements irrespective of varied material parameters. On the other side, variation of the CR type did not affect the properties of the blend greatly, when comparing the incorporation of 40 and 50 mesh CR size. However, results revealed some significant differences, with increased CR size to 30 mesh.