Experimental Investigation of Nano-Silica and Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen.

Abstract

Roads are an important mode of transport in India. They carry about 85% of total traffic generated in the country. So there is a need for better roads with less dam- ages and maintenance cost. Nanomaterials have been used widely in almost all fields which also penetrated into the field of bitumen modification to improve its performance. Disposing of rubber waste has become a vast problem. Every year millions of tons of rubber produce in India. Utilising these materials in highway road construction, the pollution and disposal problem can be successfully be reduced. This paper investigates the feasibility of using Nano-silica and crumb rubber to enhance the physical properties of bitumen. Softening Point, Penetration, Flash and fire, ductility, Marshall Stability test were carried to analyze performance of nanosilica and crumb rubber modified binders. In this study crumb rubber and nanosilica were added to VG 30 grade bitumen with 2% crumb rubber and 1-5% Nanosilica by weight of bitumen. This helped to understand effect of bitumen properties under various concentration of modifier. Results showed that there is increase in softening point and decrease in penetration value and ductility of bitumen due to addition of nanosilica with crumb rubber (NSWCR). Addition of nanosilica with crumb rubber in the binder the stability value of the mix increases upto 3% after that decreases. Results show that NSWCR-3% is the best performing mix in its class.