Rheological Characteristics of Epoxidized Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen

Abstract

Polymer modified bitumens have tended to be the most popular among the various types of modified binders that are available worldwide. Polymer modification significantly alters the rheological characteristics of the binder, thereby requiring the use of fundamental rheological testing methods to provide an indication of the performance of the binder and subsequently the asphalt mixture. In this paper the characterization of bitumen modified with epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) was done with four percentages of ENR content. The effects of the modifier on the conventional properties, storage stability and rheological properties were investigated. The results indicated that storage stability of ENR modified bitumens (ENRMB) were mainly dependent on the ENR content. ENR reduced the temperature susceptibility. The degree of the improvement generally increased with ENR content up to 9%.