SAND, BITUMEN AND SULPHUR MIXES

This is a condensed article based on a paper published in the Transportation Engineering Journal of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It describes work carried out by the Texas Transportation Institute to study the behaviour of sand, bitumen and sulphur (sbs) mixes similar to thermopave which has been developed in Canada. Trial mixes were manufactured in the laboratory in two phases: firstly the sand was coated with bitumen and secondly the sulphur was added and mixed for 30 seconds at 150 degrees C. The critical nature of the mixing temperature is discussed. Two sets of specimens were made using two sands: sulphur content was varied between 0 and 20 % and bitumen content from 0 to 6 %. The materials were tested in direct tension, repeated bending and dilation. An outline of the test methods is given. The sbs mixes were found to show increased stiffness and failure stress with increasing sulphur content and decreasing bitumen content; but strain at failure showed the opposite trend. Better properties were obtained with the more rounded sand. The stiffness with the better sand was 2.5 times asphaltic concrete at 57 degrees C., but a little lower at -7 degrees C. Results suggested that the fatigue resistance of the sbs mixes was superior to the asphalt, but the asphalt showed a better resistance to dilation. An estimation of relative costs showed that the sbs materials would be 20 % cheaper than asphaltic concrete, the main saving being in the high cost of the limestone used in the asphaltic concrete (20 times that of the sand). /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Asphalt and Coated Macadam Association, Limited

  25 Lower Belgrave Street
  London SW1,   England 
• Publication Date: 1975-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 14-15
• Serial:
  • Queen's Highway
  • Issue Number: 105

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt concrete; Bending; Bitumen; Bituminous mixtures; Costs; Deflection; Deformation; Dilation; Expansion; Failure; Fatigue (Mechanics); Laboratory tests; Limestone; Mix design; Mixers; Organizations; Sand; Stiffness; Strength of materials; Sulfur; Temperature; Tension; Tests
• Geographic Terms: United States
• ITRD Terms: 4963: Bitumen; 4967: Bituminous mixture; 224: Cost; 5586: Deflection; 5595: Deformation; 6720: Expansion; 5520: Failure; 5579: Fatigue (mater); 4714: Mix design; 3649: Mixer; 9057: Organization (association); 4105: Sand; 5931: Stiffness; 5544: Strength (mater); 7109: Sulphur; 6722: Temperature; 5502: Tension; 6255: Test; 8122: USA
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Materials; I31: Bituminous Binders and Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00133742
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 23 1976 12:00AM