Determination of physical and mechanical properties of road bitumins modified by sunflower oil epoxy

Abstract

Development of the national economy and raising the level of economy of our country is impossible without the development of a modern road network. Roads are constantly under load and are exposed to atmospheric phenomena, they wear out. To a large extent, the quality of the roads depends on the roadwear and the materials it consists of. Therefore, in many countries of the world, considerable attention is paid to the proper selection of materials for structural layers of road clothing. Particular attention should be paid to bitumen, which is part of asphalt concrete. Today, the problem of improving the quality of road bitumen, which solution will allow to extend the life of road asphalt pavements and to increase the efficiency of works on their construction and repair, is especially urgent.

It is possible to solve the problem of improving the quality of bitumen by the use of various additives for its modification. An effective way to improve the quality of pavements is to use bitumen modified with epoxy compounds, especially on the basis of reducing raw materials, such as vegetable oils.

For the experimental part of the work used road oil bitumen brand BND 90/130 and BND 60/90, as well as sunflower oil epoxide obtained by epoxidizing it in a medium of hydrogen peroxide.

As a result of the study of road bitumen modified with sunflower oil epoxy, the influence of this additive in different percentages on the structure and properties of bitumen was established. In particular, it has been studied that increasing the content of sunflower oil epoxide in bitumen by more than 7% is impractical, since virtually no changes such as penetration, softening temperature, ductility and brittleness are observed.

The results obtained prove that the introduction of sunflower oil epoxide into the bitumen, regardless of its brand, allows to increase the softening temperature by 3-5 °C. The ductility and brittleness are practically equal to the ductility and brittleness of unmodified bitumen. Penetration of modified bitumen is significantly reduced.

Based on the above, it can be argued that the modification of road bitumen with sunflower oil epoxy makes it possible to improve the road performance regardless of the brand of bitumen.