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Standard Method of Test for
1.2. This standard may involve hazardous materials, operations, and equipment. This standard does
not purport to address all of the safety concerns associated with its use. It is the responsibility of
the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the
applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
2. REFERENCED DOCUMENTS
2.1. AASHTO Standards:
T 166, Bulk Specific Gravity of Compacted Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Using Saturated
Surface-Dry Specimens
T 209, Theoretical Maximum Specific Gravity and Density of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA)
T 275, Bulk Specific Gravity of Compacted Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Using Paraffin-Coated
Specimens
T 331, Bulk Specific Gravity and Density of Compacted Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Using
Automatic Vacuum Sealing Method
3. TERMINOLOGY
3.1. The terms specific gravity and density used in this test method are in accordance with ASTM
E 1547.
3.2. Definitions:
3.2.1. air voids—the pockets of air between the asphalt-coated aggregate particles in a compacted
asphalt mixture.
3.2.3. open asphalt mixture—asphalt mixtures in which the air voids are 10 percent or more when
compacted.
3.2.3.1. For borderline cases, an asphalt mixture shall be designated as an open asphalt mixture if the
calculated percent air voids, based on either Section 6.1 or 6.2, are 10 percent or more.
5. SAMPLING
5.1. Samples for testing shall consist of specimens from laboratory-molded mixtures or cores from
field-compacted mixtures.
6. PROCEDURE
6.1. For dense asphalt mixtures, determine the bulk specific gravity of the compacted mixture either by
T 166, T 275 or T 331. Determine the theoretical maximum specific gravity in accordance with
T 209 on a comparable asphalt mixture to avoid the influence of differences in gradation, asphalt
content, etc.
6.2. For open asphalt mixtures, use either of the following methods:
6.2.1. Automatic Vacuum Sealing Method—Determine the bulk specific gravity of the compacted
mixture by T 331. Determine the theoretical maximum specific gravity in accordance with
T 209 on a comparable asphalt mixture to avoid the influence of differences in gradation, asphalt
content, etc.
6.2.2. Volume Method—Determine the density of a regularly shaped specimen of compacted mixture
from its dry mass (in grams) and its volume (in cubic centimeters). Obtain the height of the
specimen by ASTM D 3549. Measure the diameter of the specimen at four locations, and average
the measurements. Calculate the volume of the specimen based on the average height and diameter
measurement. Convert the density to bulk specific gravity by dividing by 0.99707 g/cm3 or
997 kg/m3, the density of water at 25ºC (77ºF). Determine the theoretical maximum specific
gravity in accordance with T 209 on a comparable asphalt mixture to avoid the influence of
differences in gradation, asphalt content, etc.
For reference purposes, determine both the bulk specific gravity and the theoretical maximum
specific gravity on portions of the same sample of compacted asphalt mixture.
7. CALCULATIONS
7.1. Calculate the percent air voids in a compacted asphalt mixture as follows:
Percent Air Voids = 100(1 − A / B ) (1)
where:
A = the bulk specific gravity, and
B = the theoretical maximum specific gravity.
Note 1—The x standard (T 166, T 275, or T 331) is used to compute bulk specific gravity, and
the y standard (T 209) is used to compute theoretical maximum specific gravity.
8.2. Criteria for judging the acceptability of percent air voids test results that are obtained by using x
standard and y standard for nonporous aggregates are:
Standard Acceptable Range
Deviation of Two Results
x Standard and y Standard Test and Type Index (1s%) (d2s%)
T 166 and T 209 (Method A) Single-Operator Precision 0.21 0.59
T 166 and T 209 (Method A) Multilaboratory Precision 0.40 1.13
T 166 and T 209 (Method B) Single-Operator Precision 0.26 0.74
T 166 and T 209 (Method B) Multilaboratory Precision 0.46 1.30
T 275 and T 209 (Method A) Single-Operator Precision 0.34 0.96
T 275 and T 209 (Method A) Multilaboratory Precision — —
T 275 and T 209 (Method B) Single-Operator Precision 0.37 1.05
T 275 and T 209 (Method B) Multilaboratory Precision — —
T 331 and T 209 (Method A) Single-Operator Precision 0.53 1.50
T 331 and T 209 (Method A) Multilaboratory Precision 0.62 1.75
T 331 and T 209 (Method B) Single-Operator Precision 0.55 1.56
T 331 and T 209 (Method B) Multilaboratory Precision 0.66 1.87
This value is in terms of air voids; therefore, the value should be multiplied by 100 to convert it
into a percentage. Therefore:
σ x y = 0.0032 (100) = 0.32% (X1.2)
1
Similar, but not technically identical to ASTM D 3203-05.