ROAD MATERIALS:

- MINERAL FILLER
- BITUMINOUS MATERIAL
- BITUMINOUS BINDER
Kean Janmel F. So
MINERAL FILLER
• The strength of the road pavement will be increased if
dust additives which dense the graded mixture is added. It
is called mineral filler which reduces the void contents in
the mixture. This dust additive is not the ordinary dust that
is being found in our floor or tables.
Dust additive is classified into:
Finely powdered limestone Slag
Hydrated lime Portland cement
Top rock dust Fly ash
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)
standard specifications relative to mineral filler states that:
“Mineral filler shall consist of finely divided mineral matter
such as rock dust, slag, hydrated lime, hydraulic cement,
flyash or other suitable mineral matter. It shall be free from
organic impurities and at the time of use shall be
sufficiently dry to flow freely and shall be essentially free
from agglomerations.”
BITUMINOUS MATERIAL
• Bitumen – an asphalt of Asia Minor used in ancient times
as a cement and mortar.
• Bituminous material or asphalt is a viscous (gelatinous)
liquid used as binder for aggregates in road construction.
At normal temperature, asphalt is either lightly thicker than
water or hard but brittle material that breaks under a
hammer blow when cold.
• Bituminous material is in liquid form when mixed or
combined with aggregates. This liquid form maybe
produced either by heating the hard asphalt, by dissolving
in solvent or by emulsifying in water. However, there are
bituminous liquid materials available and ready to use.
• The action of the asphalt binder depends on its type and
the aggregate it is combined with. The purpose of the
asphalt binder is to resist the abrasive force brought about
by heavy traffic.
• If the pavement is of the open type, consisting entirely of
coarse particles and asphalt, heavy binder is needed
requiring more asphalt. On the other hand, if the
aggregates on the pavement contain fine particles,
cohesion will be developed by the surface tension in the
thin asphalt film surrounding these fine [articles hence,
less viscous asphalt is required.
BITUMINOUS BINDER
Asphalt cement is used as binder for almost high types of
bituminous pavement. Asphalt cement is a semi- solid
hydrocarbons retained after fuel and lubricating oils are
removed from petroleum. The softest grade used for
pavement is the 200-300 penetration and the hardest is the
60-70 penetration.
• Penetration refers to the consistencies of asphalt cement
as describes under AASHTO T-49. It is the distance that a
standard needle penetrates a sample under known
conditions of loading time and temperature. Recently, the
procedure used in grading asphalt cement is viscosity test
rather than the penetration test.
Asphalt cement
Cutback or Liquid Asphalt. The liquid asphalt is a petroleum
product consisting of asphalt cement with a liquid distillate
(diesel, kerosene or gasoline). The less viscous asphalt
contains up to 50% diluent and the more viscous contains
diluent as little as 15%. The use of cutback is being
frowned for two reasons: It is a usable fuel. It is an air
pollutant. Cutback or liquid asphalt is classified into: Slow
Curing (SC) road soils Medium Curing (MC) cutback
asphalt Rapid Curing (RC) cutback asphalt.
Cutback or Liquid Asphalt
Emulsified Asphalt is a kind of mixture wherein the minute
globules or asphalt disperses in water. Asphalt content
ranges from 55% - 75% by weight. Emulsion could be
applied or mixed at normal temperature, because when the
water content evaporates the asphalt remains.
Oxidized Asphalt and Road Tar - Oxidized asphalt is
suitable only for roofing and similar applications. Highway
uses of oxidized asphalt are limited to water proofing of
structures and filling joints of concrete pavement. Road tar
is a by-product of the distillation process of coal. Tars are
produced from gashouse coal tar; cook ovens tars and
water gas tar.
 Oxidized bitumen/asphalt in
Emulsified Asphalt polyamide bag
Epoxy Resins as Binders - Epoxy binders are produced in
clear, dark, rigid and flexible forms for application to either
concrete or asphalt pavement. Hardening is attained by
mixing resin and catalyst hardener immediately before
application. The result is thermosetting. Meaning, it will not
soften under the influence of heat or the action of solvent
such as water or petroleum products. But the prohibitive
cost of the resin has restricted its use to bridge surfacing
and to other special non-skid seal coating surface only.
Epoxy Resins