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What are the Types of Modifier in Bitumen?

By Nurul Hidayah
INTRODUCTION
Bitumen is a black or dark brown non-crystalline solid or viscous material, composed principally of high molecular
weight hydrocarbons, having adhesive properties, derived from petroleum either by natural or refinery processes
and substantially soluble in carbon disulphide. Refer to Ali Akhber Yousefi (2002), bitumen in pure form is not
suitable for modern roads and present traffic, therefore forced engineers to modify bitumen to improve its
performance during service life.
The modified binder are more stable under heavy loads, braking and accelerating forces and shows increased
resistance to permanent deformation in hot weather. It resists fatigue loads and having better adhesion between
aggregates and binders.
TYPE OF BITUMEN MODIFIER AND ADDITIVE
There are 3 type of bitumen modifier, namely :
(1) physical modification
(2) chemical modification
(3) other type modification
The table 1 below showed the type of modifier and example of additive that being used to modify the bitumen.
Table 1: The type of physical modifier and additive used in the material (Read and Whiteoak, 2003)
TYPE OF MODIFIER
(1) Thermoplastic Elastomers

TYPE OF ADDITIVE
Styrene butadiene styrene (SBS)
Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)
Styrene isoprene styrene (SIS)
Styrene ethylene butadiene styrene (SEBS)
Ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM)
Isobutene isoprene copolymer (IIR)
Natural rubber
Crumb tyre rubber
Polybutadine (PBD)
Polyisoprene

(2) Thermoplastic Polymer

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)

Ethylene methyl acrylate (EMA)
Ethylene butyl acrylate (EBA)
Atactic polypropylene (APP)
Polyethylene (PE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Polystyrene (PS)

(3) Thermosetting Polymers

Epoxy Resin
Polyurethane Resin
Acrylic Resin
Phenolic resin

Among many different polymers used in bitumen modification such as thermoplastics, thermosets, thermoplastic
elastomers, the rubbers seems to be more attractive. Although thermoplastic elastomers such as styrenebutadiene-styrene triblock copolymer (SBS) or its hydrogenated forms and plastomers such as ethylenevinylacetate copolymer (EVA) are good bitumen modifiers, rubbers are preferred due to their lower prices. In fact,
bitumen is supposed to keep its physical and rheological properties constant at different service temperatures and
loading conditions and transforms itself to a low viscosity Newtonian fluid at mixing temperature (165C). This type
of bitumen is called ideal bitumen. Constant rheological properties in a wide range of temperatures correspond
to rubbery behaviour. It is concluded that the rubbers should be able to modify bitumen properties very well.
Therefore, many types of rubbers were introduced in bitumen (PBR, SBR and its latex, ground tire rubber etc.)
Chemical modification used the additive such as organo- metallic compounds, sulphur and lignin. It used the
chemical agent as additive to modify the characteristic of pure bitumen. Due to vary complex structure of bitumen,
chemical modification of bitumen have not been commercialized as physical modification. The types of additive
used with different types of modifier clearly shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Type of additive adding to chemical modifier (Read and Whiteoak, 2003; Asphalt Academy, 2007)
TYPE OF MODIFIER
Chemical Modifiers

TYPE OF ADDITIVE
Organo-metallic compounds
Sulphur
Lignin

Fiber

Cellulose
Alumino-magnesium silicate
Glass fiber
Asbestos
Polyester
Polypropylene

Adhesion improvers

Organic amines
Amides

Antioxidants

Amines
Phenols
Organo-zinc/organo-lead compounds

Natural asphalts

Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA)

Gilsonite
Rock asphalt

Fillers

Carbon black
Hydrated lime
Lime
Fly ash

Extender

Sulphur

CONCLUSION
As conclusion, each modifier has their own additives as modifier agent. There are many modifier materials that
can be used to mix with bitumen to improve their performance as paving material. Rubbers are preferred as
bitumen modifier due to their lower prices and the availability. Nevertheless, the selection of modifier is depending
on the user or company.
REFERENCES
[1] Ali Akhber Yousefi (2002) Rubber Modified Bitumens. Iranian Polymer Journal, 11 (5).
[2] Read, J and Whiteoak, D (2003). Shell Bitumen Handbook. 5th. Ed. London.
[3] Asphalt Academy (2007) Technical Guideline: The Use of Modified Binders in Road Construction. Pretoria.
Asphalt Academy.
We at engineeringcivil.com are thankful to Nurul Hidayah for submitting this very useful information on types of
modifiers in bitumen.