The use of crumb rubber modified bitumen for crack mitigation-Wet Method.

• Main Author: Ivan Edson Isaias Mindo, Ivan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2009
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/540/1/ivan.e.i_mindo.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/540/

The present report entitled "The use of crumb rubber modified bitumen for crack mitigation-Wet method" discusses the usage of waste tyre rubber as a bitumen modifier. Waste rubber and the environmental impact it causes has been a concern for the past two decades all over the world, in particular industrialized countries. One environmental friendly idea to dispose the waste tyres is to add it into bituminous mixtures for the construction of roads. The objective of this research is to find a good mix proportion for the rubberised bitumen. This project attempts to address two components to the problem: the environmental concern and the engineering properties of the modified mixture. The addition of rubber to the bitumen can aid on the mitigation of various distresses in highway pavements. Two main distresses in pavements are deformation (rutting) and fatigue (cracking). The interaction between the bitumen and the crumb rubber can be done in the wet or dry process. The wet process is used for this study due to its added advantages, which are among others, the formation of a binding gel and the improved thermal susceptibility of the bituminous mixture. The selection of materials is as well pivotal in obtaining a good mix, test on the materials used are to meet the necessary specifications and material characterization. For this project the test methods used are from the British standards and the local JKR standards. From the results, it can be concluded that the addition of crumb rubber into the bituminous mixtures using the wet method, improves the engineering proprieties of the pavement such as the fatigue resistance and the reduction of permanent deformation. Moreover, a high proportion of rubber, as high as 19.75%, was added to the bituminous mixtures, which help address the environmental problem related to rubber tyres