MERITS OF ADDING NATURAL RUBBER TO BITUMINOUS ROAD SURFACING MATERIALS

DURING 15 YEARS OF COOPERATIVE RESEARCH BETWEEN THE NATURAL RUBBER PRODUCERS' RESEARCH ASSOCIATION AND THE UNITED KINGDOM ROAD RESEARCH LABORATORY, INVESTIGATIONS WERE UNDERTAKEN TO FIND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE PROPERTIES OF ROAD BITUMEN AND ASPHALTIC MATERIALS ARE ALTERED BY THE ADDITION OF NATURAL RUBBER. THE PAPER DESCRIBES HOW THE ALTERATIONS IN PROPERTIES OF ROAD BINDERS WERE DEFINED INITIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO STANDARD TESTS USED IN THE ROAD INDUSTRY. THESE SHOWED THAT RUBBER ADDITION IMPROVED THE BRITTLE PROPERTIES, REDUCED THE TEMPERATURE SUSCEPTIBILITY, AND INCREASED THE SOFTENING POINT, AND THAT THE RESULTANT BINDERS WERE MARKEDLY ELASTIC. CONCURRENTLY WITH THE LABORATORY RESEARCH, AN EXTENDED SERIES OF FULL-SCALE ROAD EXPERIMENTS WAS UNDERTAKEN TO SHOW HOW RUBBERIZED SURFACINGS BEHAVE UNDER TRAFFIC IN COMPARISON WITH NORMAL MATERIALS. THE PAPER INDICATES THE ADVANTAGES FROM THE ADDITION OF NATURAL RUBBER, WHICH VARY WITH THE TYPE OF SURFACING LAID. IN SURFACE-DRESSING OR SEAL COATS, RUBBER REDUCES FATTING-UP CONSIDERABLY AND GIVES GREATER INITIAL RETENTION OF CHIPPING. IN OPEN-TEXTURED CARPETS, A MARKED INCREASE IN LIFE WAS FOUND. BOTH ROLLED ASPHALT AND MASTIC ASPHALT ARE MADE MUCH MORE RESISTANT TO CRACKING, AND THE STABILITY OF MIXTURES IS INCREASED BY ADDITION OF NATURAL RUBBER. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF BINDER BY ABOUT ONE-EIGHTH (WHICH IN ITSELF) REDUCES CRACKING AND DISINTEGRATION) WITHOUT IMPAIRING THE STABILITY OF THE MIXTURES. /AUTHOR/

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  • Accession Number: 00211439
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Sep 29 1994 12:00AM