EVALUATION OF FATIGUE PARAMETERS ON POLYMER MODIFIED BITUMENS

Since exact behaviour of components within bitumens is not completely determined and the absence of cooperative study related to modification of bitumens, the values found in the study are thought to be useful in determining which type of polymer would be better in terms of fatigue parameter for the needs of petroleum refineries. The scope of this study is to minimize the fatigue cracking within bitumens obtained from different sources. In this paper, virgin bitumen samples were composed by using different types of polymers such as elastomers, plastomers and polyethylene groups. For this purpose; bitumen samples were modified by recommended content of three different polymers as elastomer, plastomer and polyethylene polymer at concentration of 3.2%, 1.4% and 1.5% by weight of the bitumen respectively. Following the determination of the chemical characteristics of bitumen samples by spectroscopy, resistances of fatigue deformation levels of polymer modified bitumen were determined by Dynamic Shear Rheometer.