Highway

Materials
 Stone Aggregates
• Stone aggregates form the major portion of pavement structure.

• Aggregate is an aggregation of sand, gravel, stone, slag or any

other material, in combination with some cementing material
attains higher engineering properties and form highway
materials like WBM,BM etc.

• The aggregates of pavement surface have to resist:

 The wear due to abrasive action of traffic.
 Deterioration due to weathering.
 High magnitude of wheel load stresses.
Road Aggregates
Hard and Soft Aggregates
• Hard Aggregates: Hard aggregates are preferred for the
wearing course of superior pavement types to
 Resist the abrading and crushing effects of heavy traffic loads.
 Resist adverse weather conditions.

• Soft aggregates: These are used in the lower layers of road

pavement structure. They include moorum, kankar, laterite,
brick aggregates and slag.
 Desirable properties of Road
Aggregates
• 1) Resistance to crushing
• 2) Resistance to abrasion
• 3) Resistance to impact: due to movement of heavy wheel loads.
• 4) Good shape: Flaky and elongated aggregates are not preferred.
• 5) Water absorption: High value of water absorption is not desired.
• 6) Durability or resistance to weathering
• 7) Good adhesion
• 8) Surface texture
• 9) Porosity
• 10) Surface chemistry
Tests on Road Aggregates
Tests are generally carried out to judge the desirable properties
and suitability of aggregates.
Following are the most common tests conducted on road
aggregates:
• Aggregate Impact test
• Los Angeles abrasion test
• Aggregate crushing test
• Shape tests: Flakiness index, elongation index and angularity
number
• Soundness test or accelerated weathering test
• Specific gravity test and water absorption test
• Bitumen adhesion test or stripping value test
 Aggregate Impact Test
 The road aggregates are subjected to impact or pounding
action during construction process and due to movement of
heavy wheel loads.

 Stone aggregates should be sufficiently tough so as to resist

fracture under impact loads.

 The aggregate impact test is carried out to evaluate the

resistance to impact of aggregates to fracture under repeated
impacts.
 Specifications
 Metal base and cylindrical cup with internal diameter 102mm
and depth 50mm.
 Cylindrical metal hammer of weight 13.5 kg to 14 kg
 Height of fall of hammer = 380mm
 Aggregate specimen passing 12.5mm and retained on 10mm
sieve is filled in cylindrical measure in 3 layers tamping each
layer 25 times.
 Specimen is given 15 blows by hammer falling from a height
of 380mm.
 The aggregate impact value is expressed as the percentage of
fines passing 2.36mm sieve in terms of total weight of sample
to nearest whole number.
Aggregate Impact Value

Aggregate impact Toughness property

value, %
< 10 Exceptionally Strong
10 to 20 Very Strong
20 to 30 Good
 35 Weak

Aggregate Impact value should be:

• < 30% for wearing course
• <35% for bituminous macadam base
course
• <40% for water bound macadam base
course
Los Angeles Abrasion Test
 The road aggregates used in surface course is subjected to
wearing action due to movement of traffic.

 Thus road aggregates should be hard enough to resist abrasion

due to traffic.

 Methods to carry out abrasion test:

• Los Angeles abrasion test
• Deval abrasion test
• Dorry abrasion test

Los Angeles Test is the most commonly adopted test.

Los Angeles Abrasion Test
• Principle: To find the percentage wear due to the relative rubbing
action between the aggregates and steel balls used as abrasive
charge.
• Specifications:
 Hollow cylinder closed at both ends with inside diameter 700mm
and length 500mm.
 Abrasive charge consists of a solid, steel sphere having a mass
between 390 and 445 g. with an approximate diameter of 48 mm
• GRADINGS FOR TEST SPECIMENS
• A, B, C, D, E, F and G
• Total Mass = 5000 ± 10 gm for A, B, C and D
• Total Mass = 10,000 ± 20 gm for E, F and G.
Los Angeles Abrasion Test
• A specified number of steel spheres depending upon grading placed
in the machine

• The drum is rotated for 500 revolutions at a speed of 30 - 33

revolutions per minute (RPM).

• The material is then extracted and separated into material passing

and retained on the 1.70 mm sieve.

• The retained material is weighed and compared to the original

sample weight. The difference in weight is reported as a percent of
the original weight and called the "percent loss".
Los Angeles Abrasion Test

Los Angeles Abrasion value should

be:
• <30% for bituminous concrete and
other high quality pavements.
• <40% for granular base courses
and bituminous layers
 Aggregate Crushing Value
Test
• The aggregate crushing value indicates the ability of an
aggregate to resist crushing.

• The lower the figure the stronger the aggregate, i.e. the greater
its ability to resist crushing.

• The aggregate crushing value is the percentage of the crushed

material passing 2.36mm sieve in terms of original weight of
the specimen.
 Aggregate Crushing
Value Test
• Aggregate passing IS sieve 12.5 mm and retained on 10 mm
sieve is generally used.
• Measuring cylinder of 11.5cm dia. & 18.0cm height.
• Aggregates filled in measuring cylinder in 3 equal layers, each
layer being subjected to 25 tamps with a tamping rod of 16mm
diameter and 45 to 60mm long.
• The crushing test apparatus consist of a 15cm diameter open
ended heavy steel cylinder, a plunger and a base plate.
• Compression testing machine a load of 40 tonnes is applied at
the rate of 4 tonnes per minute
 Aggregate Crushing
Value Test
• Strong aggregates give lower
aggregate crushing value.

• Aggregate crushing value

should be:
 < 30% for surface course
 < 45% for base course
 < 30% for Cement concrete
pavements
Aggregate Crushing
Value Apparatus
 Shape Test
• Angular shape of aggregates are desirable for GSB and for use in
bituminous weeks due to increased stability derived from the better
interlocking.

• Presence of flaky and elongated particles in the coarse aggregates

used for construction of base and surface course is undesirable as
they may cause weakness with possibilities of breaking down
during compaction as well as heavy traffic loads.

• Types of shape tests:

 Flakiness index
 Elongation index
 Angularity number
 Flakiness Index
• Flakiness Index of aggregate is the percentage by weight of
aggregate particles the least dimension/ thickness of which is less
than 0.6 times their mean dimension.
• This test is applicable to sizes larger than 6.3mm
• The sample of aggregates to be tested is first sieved through a set of
sieves and separated into specified size ranges.
• To separate the flaky material, the aggregates which pass through
the appropriated elongated slot of thickness gauge are found.
• For e.g. for 20-16mm group, the width of slot = 0.6*18 = 10.8mm.
• The flaky material passing the appropriate slot from each size range
of aggregates are added up.
• Desired values of Flakiness index:
 For bituminous concrete and surface dressing <25%
 For water bound macadam and bituminous macadam <15%
Flakiness Index
 Elongation Index
• Elongation Index of an aggregate is the percentage by weight of
particles, the greatest dimension of which is 1.8 times their mean
dimension.
• The elongation index is applicable for sizes greater than 6.3mm
• The elongated aggregates are those which do not pass through
designated slots of length gauge which are 1.8 times of respective
mean size of the aggregates.
• The total weight of the elongated stones is expressed as a percentage
of the total weight of aggregates taken to obtain the elongated index.
• MORTH has specified the maximum permissible value of Combined
index (FI+EI) of coarse aggregates is 30% for wet mixed macadam,
dense bituminous macadam binder course and bituminous concrete
surface course.
Elongation Index
 Angularity Number
 Angular particles possess well defined edges and are commonly
found in aggregates prepared by crushing of rocks.
 Angularity or absence of rounding of particles in aggregate is a
property which is of importance because it affects ease of handling a
mixture of aggregate and binder.
 The degree of packing of particles of single sized aggregates
depends upon the shape and angularity of the aggregate.
 Angularity of aggregate can be estimated from properties of voids in
a sample of aggregate compacted in a particular manner.
 Rounded gravel particles possess lesser voids (mostly 33%, i.e. 67%
solids, by volume) as compared to the angular particles.
 Angularity number measures the percentage of voids in angular
particles in excess of that in the rounded gravel particles.
 Angularity Number
• Angularity number = % of solid volume in a vessel filled with
aggregate in a standard manner - 67 (i.e. % volume of solids of
the rounded gravel)

• The higher the angularity number, the more angular the

aggregate.

• The range of angularity number for practical aggregates is

between 0 and 11
 Specific Gravity
• The specific gravity of a stone aggregate is considered to be a
measure of strength and quality of material.
• Stones having lower SG value are generally weaker.
• Procedure:
 About 2 kg of dry coarse aggregate is placed in wire basket and
immersed in water for 24 hours. The sample is weighed in water.
 The aggregates are taken out, surface dried and weighed.
 Then the aggregates are oven dried at a temperature 110◦ C and then
the oven dry weight is found.
 The specific gravity is calculated by dividing the dry weight of
aggregate by weight of equal volume of water.
 The specific gravity of rocks generally varies from 2.6 to 2.9
Specific Gravity
Apparatus
 Water Absorption Test
• Water absorption is an indicator of strength of rock. Stones having
high water absorption are more porous in nature and are considered
unsuitable.

• The water absorption is expressed as the percent water absorbed in

terms of oven dried weight of the aggregates.

• Rock specimens having more than 0.6 percent water absorption are
considered unsatisfactory unless found acceptable based on strength
tests.
 Soundness Test
• The soundness test determines an aggregate’s resistance to disintegration by
weathering and, in particular, freeze-thaw cycles.
• Aggregates that are durable (resistant to weathering) are less likely to degrade in
the field and cause premature pavement distress and potentially, failure.
• An aggregate sample is subjected to a number of cycles (usually 10 cycles) of
submergence in a sulphate solution (either sodium sulphate, or magnesium
sulphate) followed by drying in air. This process causes salt crystals to form in
the aggregate’s water permeable pores.
• Aggregates are separated into several size ranges and tested independently
during the test.
• The final reported loss value (reported as a percentage of total aggregate mass)
is a weighted average of the mass loss of each size range
• The average loss in weight of aggregates should not exceed 12% when tested
with Sodium sulphate and 18% with magnesium sulphate.
Soundness Test
 Stripping Value Test
• Bitumen and tar adhere well to all normal types of aggregates provided
they are dry and are not exceptionally dusty.
• This problem of stripping is experienced only with bituminous mixtures,
which are permeable to water.
• This slide gives the procedure for determination of the stripping value of
aggregates by static immersion method, when bitumen and tar binders are
used.
• Indian Road Congress (IRC) has specified the maximum stripping value as
25 percent for aggregates to be used in bituminous construction like surface
dressing penetration macadam, bituminous macadam and carpet.
 Stripping Value Test
Procedure:
• 200 g of clean and dry aggregate passing 20 mm IS sieve and retained on
12.5 mm sieve are heated up to 150°C when these are to be mixed with
bitumen.
• Bitumen binder amounting to five percent by weight of aggregate is heated
to 160°C.
• The aggregate and binder are mixed thoroughly till they are completely
coated and mixture is transferred to the beaker and allowed to cool at room
temperature for about 2 hours.
• Distilled water is then added to immerse the coated aggregates.
• The beaker is covered and kept in a water bath maintained at 40°C, for 24
hours.
• After 24 hours, the beaker is taken out, cooled at room temperature and the
extent of stripping is estimated visually while the specimen is still under
water.
 Artificial Aggregates
• The artificial aggregates common in India is broken brick
blast, which is soft, water-absorbant and gets powered under
traffic
• Over-burning of bricks increases the hardness
• The material is commonly used in WBM based courses in the
Gangetic plains of Northern India, where stone materials are
scarce. It is used in mehra’s method of soil stabilisation
• Slag is also used as an aggregate in countries abroad
 Bituminous Binders
• Bituminous materials or asphalts are extensively used for roadway
construction.
• This is because of their excellent binding characteristics and water
proof properties and relatively low cost.
• Bituminous materials consists of bitumen which is a black or dark
coloured solid or viscous cementitious substances.
• Bitumen is a petroleum product obtained by the distillation of
petroleum crude.
• Coal tar is produced from coal as a by- product of coke.
• A wide variety of refinery processes, such as the straight distillation
process, solvent extraction process etc. may be used to produce
bitumen of different consistency and other desirable properties.
 Difference between Bitumen
and Tar
Property Bitumen Tar
Colour Dark colour with slight
Deep black
reddish tinge
State Solid Viscous Liquid
Carbon content Medium High
Water Resistance More Less
Acid resistance More Less
Adhesive power More High
Setting time Less More
Temperature Changes Less affected More susceptible
 Different forms of Bitumen
• Cutback bitumen: In cutback bitumen suitable solvent is used to lower the
viscosity of the bitumen. Cutback bitumen is used for cold weather
bituminous road construction and maintenance.
• Bitumen Emulsion: Bitumen emulsion is a liquid product in which
bitumen is suspended in a finely divided condition in an aqueous medium
and stabilised by suitable material. Bitumen emulsions are ideal binders for
hill road construction where heating of bitumen or aggregates are difficult.
• Bituminous primers: In bituminous primer, the distillate is absorbed by
the road surface on which it is spread. Bitumen primers are useful on the
stabilised surfaces and water bound macadam base courses.
• Modified Bitumen: Certain additives or blend of additives called as
bitumen modifiers can improve properties of bitumen and bituminous
mixes. Bitumen treated with these modifiers is known as modified bitumen.
 Cutback Bitumen
• These are a grade of bitumen that comes under penetration grade bitumen.
• This type of bitumen has a temporarily reduced viscosity by the
introduction of a volatile oil. Once after the application, the volatile
material is evaporated and bitumen gain its original viscosity.
• When it is necessary to have fluidity at lower temperatures during surface
dressing, cutback bitumen is employed.
• The time for curing and the viscosity of cutback bitumen can be varied and
controlled by the dilution of volatile oil, and the volatility of the oil added.
• There are different types of cutback bitumen like rapid curing, RC (Bitumen
fluxed with naptha type diluents), medium curing, MC (Bitumen fluxed with
kerosene), and slow curing, SC (A liquid residue produced in the refining
process, containing little or no volatile constituents). RC is recommended for
surface dressing and patchwork. MC is recommended for premix with less
quantity of fine aggregates. SC is used for premix with appreciable quantity of
fine aggregates.
 Bitumen Emulsion
• This type of bitumen forms a two-phase system with two immiscible
liquids. One of them is dispersed as fine globules within the other liquid.
When discrete globules of bitumen are dispersed in a continuous form of
water, bitumen emulsion is formed.
• This is a form of penetration grade bitumen that is mixed and used for
laying purposes.
• An emulsifier having a long hydrocarbon chain with either a cationic or
anionic ending is used for dispersing the bitumen globules. This emulsifier
provides an electrochemical environment. The ionic part of the chain has an
affinity towards water and the bitumen is attracted by hydrocarbon part.
• The emulsions can be cationic (positive charge) or anionic (negatively
charged). The globules of the same charge hence repel each other, making
the whole system stable. To facilitate adhesion with the aggregates (that are
negatively charged), cationic emulsions are more preferred.
• Three types of bituminous emulsions are available, which are Rapid setting
(RS), Medium setting (MS), and Slow setting (SS). Bitumen emulsions are
ideal binders for hill road construction.
 Modified Bitumen
• Modified bitumen is the type of bitumen obtained by the
modification of strength and the rheological properties of the
penetration graded bitumen. For this 2 to 8% polymer is added.
• The polymer used can be either plastic or rubber. These polymers
vary the strength and the viscoelastic properties of the bitumen.
1. Elastic response increase
2. Improvement in cohesive property
3. Improvement in Fracture strength
4. Providing ductility
• Some of the examples of rubber polymers used are styrene block
copolymers, synthetic rubbers, natural and recycled rubbers. Plastics
that are thermoplastic polymers are also used.
 Modified Bitumen
Type of modifiers Indicative Dose
(Percent by weight of bitumen)

1. Plastomeric 3-6
2. Elastomeric 3-5
3. Synthetic rubber Latex 3-5
4. Natural rubber 2-4
5. Crumb rubber or 10-12
treated crumb rubber
 Desirable properties of
Bitumen
• The bitumen should not be highly temperature susceptible: during
the hottest weather the mix should not become too soft or unstable,
and during cold weather the mix should not become too brittle
causing cracks.

• The viscosity of the bitumen at the time of mixing and compaction

should be adequate.

• There should be adequate affinity and adhesion between the bitumen

and aggregates used in the mix.
 Tests on Bitumen
Following tests are conducted to evaluate the properties of
Bitumen binders:
• Penetration test
• Ductility test
• Softening point test
• Specific gravity test
• Viscosity test
• Flash and Fire point test
• Float test
• Loss on heating test
 Penetration Test
• It measures the hardness or softness of bitumen by measuring the
depth in tenths of a millimetre to which a standard loaded needle
will penetrate vertically in 5 seconds.
• This test is widely used to characterize bitumen into different
grades.
• A grade of 40/50 bitumen means the penetration value is in the
range 40 to 50 at standard test conditions.
• In hot climates, a lower penetration grade is preferred.
• The test should be conducted at a specified temperature of 25oC
 Penetration Test
• The penetrometer consists of a needle
assembly with a total weight of 100g
and a device for releasing and locking
in any position.
• The bitumen is softened to a pouring
consistency, stirred thoroughly and
poured into containers at a depth at
least 15 mm in excess of the expected
penetration.
• The penetration value is largely
influenced by any inaccuracy with
regards to pouring temperature, size
of the needle, weight placed on the
needle and the test temperature. Penetrometer
 Ductility Test
• Ductility is the property of bitumen that permits it to undergo great
deformation or elongation.
• The ductile film of binder improves the physical interlocking of the
aggregate bitumen mixes.
• Ductility is defined as the distance in cm, to which a standard sample
or briquette of the material will be elongated without breaking.
• The ductility value gets affected by factors such as pouring
temperature, test temperature, rate of pulling etc.
• A minimum ductility value of 75 cm has been specified by the BIS.
 Ductility Test
• Dimension of the briquette thus formed is exactly 1 cm square.
• The bitumen sample is heated and poured in the mould assembly
placed on a plate.
• The samples with moulds are cooled in the air and then in water
bath at 27o C temperature. The excess bitumen is cut and the surface
is levelled using a hot knife.
• The mould with assembly containing sample is kept in water bath of
the ductility machine for about 90 minutes.
• The sides of the moulds are removed, the clips are hooked on the
machine and the machine is operated.
• The distance up to the point of breaking of thread is the ductility
value which is reported in cm.
Ductility Test
 Softening Point Test
• Softening point denotes the temperature at which the bitumen attains
a particular degree of softening under the specifications of test.
• The test is conducted by using Ring and Ball apparatus.
• Generally, higher softening point indicates lower temperature
susceptibility and is preferred in hot climates.
• A brass ring containing test sample of bitumen is suspended in
liquid like water or glycerine at a given temperature.
• A steel ball is placed upon the bitumen sample and the liquid
medium is heated at a rate of 5o C per minute.
• Temperature is noted when the softened bitumen touches the metal
plate which is at a specified distance below.
 Softening Point Test
• The softening point of various bitumen grades used in paving jobs
varies between 35 to 70◦ C.
 Specific gravity Test
• Density property is of great use in paving jobs, to classify a binder.
• In most cases bitumen is weighed, but when used with aggregates,
the bitumen is converted to volume using density values.
• The density of bitumen is greatly influenced by its chemical
composition. Increase in aromatic type mineral impurities cause an
increase in specific gravity.
• The specific gravity of bitumen is defined as the ratio of mass of
given volume of bitumen of known content to the mass of equal
volume of water at 27o C.
• The specific gravity can be measured using either pycnometer or
preparing a cube specimen of bitumen in semi solid or solid state.
• The specific gravity of bitumen varies from 0.97 to 1.02.
 Viscosity test
• Viscosity denotes the fluid property of bituminous material and it is
a measure of resistance to flow.
• At the application temperature, this characteristic greatly influences
the strength of resulting paving mixes.
• Low or high viscosity during compaction or mixing has been
observed to result in lower stability values.
• At high viscosity, it resist the compactive effort and thereby
resulting mix is heterogeneous, hence low stability values. Whereas
at low viscosity instead of providing a uniform film over aggregates,
it will lubricate the aggregate particles.
 Viscosity test
• Orifice type viscometers are used to
indirectly find the viscosity of liquid
binders like cutbacks and emulsions.
• The viscosity expressed in seconds is
the time taken by the 50 ml bitumen
material to pass through the orifice of
a cup, under standard test conditions
and specified temperature.
• Viscosity of a cutback can be
measured with either 4.0 mm orifice
at 25o C or 10 mm orifice at 25 or 40o
C.
• The viscosity values of tar are
determined by using orifice
viscometer called ‘tar viscometer’
 Flash and fire point test
• At high temperatures depending upon the grades of bitumen
materials leave out volatiles. These volatiles catch fire which is very
hazardous and therefore it is essential to qualify this temperature for
each bitumen grade.
• BIS has defined the flash point as the temperature at which the
vapour of bitumen momentarily catches fire in the form of ash under
specified test conditions.
• The fire point is defined as the lowest temperature under specified
test conditions at which the bituminous material gets ignited and
burns.
 Flash and fire point test
Flash point:
• Soften the bitumen between 75 and 100oC. Stir it thoroughly to remove air
bubbles and water.
• Fill the cup with the material to be tested upto the filling mark. Place it on the
bath. Fix the open clip. Insert the thermometer of high or low range as per
requirement and also the stirrer, to stir it.
• Light the test flame, adjust it. Supply heat at such a rate that the temperature
increase, recorded by the thermometer is neither less than 5oC nor more than
6oC per minute.
• Open flash point is taken as that temperature when a flash first appears at any
point on the surface of the material in the cup. Take care that the bluish halo
that sometimes surrounds the test flame is not confused with the true flash.
Discontinue the stirring during the application of the test
flame.
• Flash point should be taken as the temperature read on the thermometer at the
time the flash occurs
 Flash and fire point test
Fire Point:
• After flash point, heating should be
continued at such a rate that the
increase in temperature recorded by the
thermometer is neither less than 5oC
nor more than 6oC per minute.
• The test flame should be lighted and
adjusted so that it is of the size of a
bead 4mm in dia.
• The fire point should be taken as the
temperature read on the thermometer at
Flash and Fire point Apparatus
which the application of test flame
causes the material to ignite and burn
for at least 5 seconds.
 Float test
• Normally the consistency of bituminous material can be measured
either by penetration test or viscosity test.
• But for certain range of consistencies, these tests are not applicable
and Float test is used.
• The apparatus consists of an aluminium float and a brass collar filled
with bitumen to be tested.
• The specimen in the mould is cooled to a temperature of 5oC and
screwed in to float. The total test assembly is floated in the water bath
at 50oC and the time required for water to pass its way through the
specimen plug is noted in seconds and is expressed as the float value.
 Loss on heating test
• When the bitumen is heated it loses the volatility and gets hardened.
• About 50gm of the sample is weighed and heated to a temperature
of 1630C for 5 hours in a specified oven designed for this test.
• The sample specimen is weighed again after the heating period and
loss in weight is expressed as percentage by weight of the original
sample.
• Bitumen used in pavement mixes should not indicate more than 1%
loss in weight, but for bitumen having penetration values 150-200
up to 2% loss in weight is allowed.
Test for Bitumen with IS Codes

Type of test Test Method

Penetration Test IS: 1203-1978
Ductility test IS: 1208-1978
Softening Point test IS: 1205-1978
Specific gravity test IS: 1202-1978
Viscosity test IS: 1206-1978
Flash and Fire Point test IS: 1209-1978
Float Test IS: 1210-1978
Determination of Loss on heating IS:1212-1978