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Do we need to add mineral filler in bituminous mixtures?
I am Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal, Associate Director Emeritus, NationalCenter for Asphalt Technology, Auburn University, USA currently living in Jaipur.Mr. Rajib Chattaraj, Executive Engineer P.W.D. West Bengal has asked me someinteresting and good questions about the use of mineral fillers in bituminousmixes in India. I believe the following Questions and Answers (Q and A) shouldbe of interest to the highway community in India and therefore it is beingshared with them.I had the privilege of leading research on mineral aggregates and fillers(including baghouse fines) at the national level in the US [Kandhal and Parker1998; Kandhal 1981]. The latest Information Manual on Baghouse Finescurrently in use in the US has been authored by me [Kandhal 1999]. Therefore,the responses to Mr. Chattaraj’s questions are based on my opinionsconsidering the latest research on this subject.Before I respond to his questions, I would like to give some background onmineral fillers.
Background
During the early 1970s, the use of baghouses in hot mix asphalt (HMA) plantswas made mandatory in the US due to stringent air pollution regulations. Priorto the 1970s, the HMA plants used to blow the dust from the aggregate dryersinto the atmosphere. This generally used to result in deficiency of fines in thebituminous mixes, which required addition of some kind of mineral filler. Oncethe aggregate fines were started to be collected in the HMA plant baghouses,there generally was no deficiency of fines in the bituminous mixes becausethese “baghouse fines” were incorporated back into the mix in a controlledmanner through a screw conveyer. Therefore, there was no need for anyadditional mineral filler. Initially, some asphalt technologists had doubts aboutthe quality of baghouse fines. However, many studies in the US have sinceconfirmed that the baghouse fines (which is same as stone dust or mineral dustresulting from the aggregate crushing operations) are good mineral fillers.Therefore, most HMA plants in the US hardly use any additional mineral fillernow except 1-2 % of hydrated lime, which is used only when the designed mixdoes not meet the requirements of moisture susceptibility test such as AASHTOT 283.
 
Now that the baghouses are also required and used in India, it is notunderstood as to why some engineers are keen to add some sort of filler (suchas portland cement) when the baghouse fines are abundantly available and areas good as those fillers. It is simply a waste of money. The US has one of thebest roads in the world, if a technology works there, why not in India?
Questions & Answers
1.
Chattaraj
: In the orange book (4
th
Revision), hydrated lime, cement,mineral dust etc. have been recommended as filler. However, limestonepowder (LSP) has not been mentioned as so, whereas LSP has beenprescribed as filler in Mastic Asphalt. Why, is there any specific reasonfor this? What is the harm if we use LSP as filler in case of mixes like BCor DBM?
1.
Kandhal:
Limestone powder can be used as mineral filler in mixes likeDBM or BC. However, as mentioned in the background it does not haveto be used if baghouse fines (which is also mineral dust) are abundantlyavailable.Limestone powder must be used in mastic asphalt. This is based onsuccessful experience in Germany where “Gussasphalt” (also a masticasphalt) is used. I had the privilege of supervising and documenting thefirst-ever usage of Gussasphalt on a major project in the US [Kandhaland Mellott 1977]. We followed the German specification for selecting themineral filler, which is a major component of the Gussasphalt mastic. Thefiller must meet the compatibility (miscibility) requirement, which isreported to be essential for obtaining satisfactory mastic asphalt. At least75 g of filler when mixed with 15 g of bitumen at 163 C should result in ahomogeneous mixture to pass this test. The heated filler is added inincrements to the hot bitumen while mixing with a spatula. It waspossible to mix 93 g of the filler used on that project with 15 g of bitumen. It was a limestone dust, which passed that test for theGussasphalt. This type of test can also be conducted on the masticasphalt used in India to determine the suitability of the limestone powderactually being used.
 
I must mention here that unlike BM and SDBC, which are fundamentallyflawed and undesirable mixes and should be deleted from the orangebook [Kandhal, Sinha and Veeraragavan 2008], mastic asphalt is a “success” story in India. Mastic asphalt has served us very well inresisting rutting on roundabouts and intersections. However, it cannot beused on highways where speed limits are over 50 km per hour becauseof its relatively lower skid resistance.
2.
Chattaraj:
What should be the exact dose of filler? As per orange bookit is 2% by weight of the aggregates but as per international standard(Superpave) it should be 0.6 to 1.2% of the effective asphalt content.These two actually differ which I had calculated and shown in thecomment on paper no. 530 (published in IRC Journal April-June, 2008).
2.
Kandhal:
As mentioned in the background, there is no need to add any “filler” (when baghouse fines are available) so the question of adding 2% filler does not arise at all. This statement should be deleted from theorange book. Only the dosage of hydrated lime is established between 1to 2 percent based on the results of AASHTO T 283. In the US, generallythere is no
“
filler”. It is called “fines”, which are defined as all materialpassing the 0.075 mm sieve size (sieve No. 200) quite much of it usuallycoming from the baghouse again. It is also called P200 material (passing200 sieve). In Superpave or Marshall for that matter, we should ensurethat the ratio by weight of P200 and effective bitumen content(fines/bitumen) in the bituminous mix is between 0.6 to 1.2 so that wedo have some minimum fines to stiffen the bitumen and not too muchfines which will make the mortar too brittle (dull) and less cohesive andwill also reduce the VMA more than we desire. Now you see thedifference between the “filler” and “P200 material”. Again, just toemphasize there is no need to add any filler (unless the aggregate isclean and therefore deficient in fines).
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