Lesson Title: Bituminous Materials

The bituminous group of materials offers the following general attractions: -

➢ Excellent resistance to absorption/passage of water

➢ Good adhesion to many materials

➢ Resistance to dilute acids and alkalis
➢ Good flexibility at normal temperatures

➢ Properties can be varied to suit application

Problems/disadvantages associated with bituminous materials are:

➢ They tend to become brittle at low temperatures and soft at high temperature

➢ Subject to creep
➢ Have low inherent stiffness and must be carefully blended with harder materials
when stresses are encountered

Bitumen

➢ Consists essentially of hydrocarbons of varying molecular size which are soluble

in carbon disulphide
➢ Occurs naturally in the form of asphalts (mixtures of bitumen, minerals and
water found in the form of rock or lake asphalt).
➢ The majority of bitumen is produced as a residue from the fractional distillation of
cruel oil

➢ Soften on heating and become progressively more brittle on cooling

➢ Dissolve in many organic solvents
➢ Solid at ordinary temperatures and must therefore be heated prior to application,
hardening takes place immediately on cooling

Cutback bitumen

➢ Usually comprise straight-run bitumen to which volatile fluxing oil such as

kerosene is added in order to reduce viscosity.
➢ The main application is in surface dressing.
Bitumen emulsion

➢ Contain minute bitumen particles dispersed in water by means of an emulsifying

agent.
➢ They are widely used to produce damp-proof membrane, as curing membranes
in concrete roadbase, as tack-coat in road surfacing and in surface dressings.

Asphalts and macadam

Asphalt

➢ Asphalt is bituminous mixtures containing substantial amounts of fine materials

in the form of sand and filler.
➢ The sand and filler, together with the binder, form a stiff ‘mortar’ which provides
strength and stiffness in the final product.
➢ They employ relatively hard bitumen in quite high proportions to produce an
impermeable product with low void content and high durability.
Macadam

➢ Macadam is materials which rely mainly on particle interlock rather than a stiff
mortar to provide strength and stiffness.
➢ They normally contain a wide range of particle sizes in continuous grading, voids
in the materials being filled by particles of smaller size, as in concrete.
➢ Macadam uses smaller quantities of bitumen than asphalt and hence is slightly
cheaper than asphalts.

Principal forms of asphalt

Hot-rolled asphalt

➢ These comprise a mixture of aggregate, filler and asphaltic cement.

➢ They may be used in roadbase, base course and wearing course.
➢ Hot-rolled asphalt has low permeability and high durability and is widely used on
heavily trafficked roads and city streets.
Mastic asphalt

➢ The important application of mastic asphalt is in flat roofing.

➢ The substrate for the asphalt should be rigid (e.g. concrete), since asphalt tends
to crack under excessive flexing, especially after aging.
Common Defects for mastic asphalt

➢ Cracking may occur in asphalt roofs where the isolation membrane between the
surfacing and the deck is absent or ineffective.

➢ Crazing is a surface effect and does not, initially, lead to water penetration
though it accelerates overall failure of the material, since cracks concentrate the
tensile stresses occurring when cold weather causes thermal contraction.
Deeper crazing, resulting in moisture penetration, will necessitate replacement
of the material.
➢ Blistering is caused by the presence of moisture under the surface. The
blistering occurs in hot weather when heat vaporizes the water, which swells the
softened mastic. Blisters are initially waterproof but eventually leak in cold
weather if damaged mechanically. Minor blisters may be left, or patched in dry
weather. Severe blistering is indicative of design or construction fault which
calls replacement.
Defects in bituminous pavement or surfacing

Cracking

➢ Cracked surface permits water penetration which may lead to weakening of

foundation and hence reduces load bearing capacity
➢ Cracking is caused by
 Movement which exceeding the material can absorb. Finer cracks or
crazing may result when a bituminous surface is unable to absorb the
thermal movement to which it is subject.
 Overloading of the material either due to excessively high stresses caused
by vehicle overloading or because the road foundation is inadequate.

Deformation

➢ Surface deformation in roads is the result of prolonged or severe mechanical

stress
➢ It is common in deceleration areas of roads such as roundabouts, traffic lights or
bus stops, especially on downward gradients, being worst in the wheel tracks of
heavily trafficked roads.
➢ The cause is the use of
 Too much binder
 Too soft binder
 Incorrect aggregate grading and it leads to corrugations of the surface
➢ A more serious form of deformation is caused by structural failure of the
pavement as a whole and results in large depressions in the road surface.

Embedment

➢ Embedment is a term commonly used in the context of road surfacing and it

describes the sinking of chippings into the binder and, in some cases, the
underlying materials.
➢ Excessive use of binder, combined with soft substrate, may lead to total
embedment and hence to ‘fatting-up’ with loss of surface texture and skid
resistance.