Physical and rheological properties of cup lump rubber modified bitumen

Abstract

Pavement with long service life and low maintenance and rehabilitation costs are favored; thus, the need for high-quality bitumen is growing. This situation has led to the use of polymers as modifiers to enhance the properties of pavement to be more resistive to high temperature and stress during service life. Recently natural rubber in coagulated form has been identified as a biopolymer due to its high resilience and elastomeric properties. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the physical and rheological performance of bitumen with cup lump natural rubber with four percentages (3, 6, 9 and 12%) by weight of bitumen. The raw rubber was processed and treated before blending with bitumen. The modified bitumen was tested for physical and rheological properties. The incorporation of cup lump rubber decreased the penetration and increased the softening point. Furthermore, it also enhances the rheological properties in term of complex modulus (G*) and phase angle (δ).