Bitumen, Tar and Asphalt

Bitumen
• Bitumen is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid
form of petroleum.
• Bitumen is a non-crystalline solid or viscous material derived from
petroleum, by natural or refinery process.
• Bitumen is brown or black in color.
• The main constituents of bitumen are:
– Petrolene: a yellowish oily substance, an excess of which makes bitumen to
melt at low temperature,
and
– Asphaltene: hard black substance, and excess of which makes bitumen
brittle and non-plastic.

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• Bitumen is not affected by light, air or water
individually, but in combination they can make it
brittle, porous and susceptible to oxidation
forming blisters and cracks.
• It becomes soft at temperatures between 30 –
100 oC.
• The terms asphalt and bitumen are often used
interchangeably to mean both natural and
manufactured forms of the substance.
• In American English, asphalt (or asphalt cement) is
the carefully refined residue from the distillation
 process of crude oils.
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• Outside the United States, the product is often
called bitumen. Geological terminology often
prefers the term bitumen.
• Common usage often refers to various forms of
asphalt/bitumen as "tar".
• Another term, refers to asphalt/bitumen as
"pitch". The pitch used in this mixture is
sometimes found in natural deposits but usually
made by the distillation of crude oil.

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 Bituminous materials
• The term ‘bituminous materials’ is generally taken
to include all materials consisting of aggregate
bound with either bitumen or tar.
• Materials of this kind are used almost exclusively
in road construction. However, bitumen and tar
on their own have other uses in construction.
• For example, bitumen is used as roofing materials
and as a protective/waterproof coating.

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 Bituminous materials
• The use of tar in road building materials began in
early 20th century after advent of motor vehicle.
• At that time, Macadam waterbound roads were
constructed . Motor vehicles generated dust on
macadam roads, which led to the use of tar as a
dressing to bind the surface.
• A very wide range of bituminous mixtures have
evolved to suit the wide variety of circumstances
in which they are used.

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Essential features of Asphalt

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Essential features of macadam

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 Bituminous materials
• Bituminous materials are used in ‘flexible’
construction. The alternative is ‘rigid’ construction
where the road consists essentially of a concrete
slab.
• In flexible construction there are a number of
layers to the road structure.
• Bituminous materials may be used in wearing and
base course.
• However, wearing course asphalt differs from a
basecourse asphalt.
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Structure of flexible road

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 Constituents of bituminous materials
• Bituminous materials consist of a graded
aggregate bound together with bitumen.
• Thus, they are two-phase materials and their
properties depend upon the properties of
individual phases as well as the mix proportions.
• Aggregate is stiff and hard, whereas the bitumen
is flexible and soft and is particularly susceptible
to temperature change.

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 Bitumen resources
• (a) Natural bitumen, (b) Refinery bitumen
• Natural bitumen
– Bitumen occurs naturally, formed from petroleum by geological
forces and always in intimate association with mineral
aggregates.
– Types of deposit range from almost pure bitumen to bitumen-
impregnated rocks and bituminous sands with only a few
percent bitumen.
– Rock asphalt consists of porous limestone or sandstone
impregnated with bitumen with typical bitumen content of
10%.
– Lake asphalt consists of a bitumen ‘lake’ with finely divided
mineral matter dispersed throughout the bitumen.
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 Bitumen resources
• Refinery bitumen
– Bitumen is the residual material left after the fractional
distillation of crude oil.
– Crudes vary in their bitumen content.
– The lighter paraffinic crudes (Middle East & North Sea) have a
low bitumen content.
– Heavier crudes (known as asphaltic crudes), such as those from
US, contain more bitumen with is more easily extracted.

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 Properties of bitumen
• Viscosity
– Viscosity depends greatly on temperature.
– At low temperature, bitumen has great viscosity and acquire
the properties of a solid body. With increase in temperature the
viscosity of bitumen decreases and it passes into liquid state.
• Ductility
– Ductility depends upon temperature, group composition and
nature of structure.
– Viscous bitumens containing solid paraffins at low temperature
are very ductile.

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 Properties of bitumen
• Softening point
– Softening point is related to viscosity. Bitumen needs sufficient
fluidity before specific application.
• Resilience
– Bitumen is resilient, non-rigid.
– It is capable of absorbing shocks and accommodate itself to the
movement in structure due to temperature, settlement or
shrinkage.

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 Manufacture of refinery bitumen
• The process of refining crude oil yields a range of
products, as shown in Fig. below.
• These products are released at different temperatures.
• Bitumen is the residual material.

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 Types of bitumen – penetration grades
• Refinery bitumen are produced with a range of viscosities and are
known as penetration grade bitumens.
• The term derives from the test which is used to characterize them
according to hardness.
• The range of penetration grades for road bitumens is from 15 to
450, although the most commonly use are in rang 50 to 200.

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• Mostly used grades are:

• 40-50
• 60-70
• 80/85-100

• Other types of bitumen are:

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 Oxidized bitumen
• This consists of introducing air under pressure into a soft
bitumen under controlled temperature conditions.
• The oxygen in the air reacts with certain compounds in
the bitumen resulting in the formation of compounds of
higher molecular weight.
• Road bitumen known as heavy duty (HD) bitumen is also
produced by this process.
• Use: Blown grade bitumen is widely used as an anti-slip
layer compound in the piling industry, for manufacture of
roofing felts, for sound dampening felts and under
carriage sealant in the automobile industry, electric cable
joint protection, joint filling compound, sealant
compound and many others applications. 21
 Cutbacks
• At ambient temperature bitumen can be more or less
solid and to enable it to be used for road construction, it
must be temporarily changed into a fluid state. It is
achieved by raising temperature.
• However, for surface dressing and some type of
bituminous mixtures, it is necessary to have a fluid binder
that can be applied and mixed at low temperatures, but
have adequate hardness after laying.
• Cutback bitumens are penetration grade bitumen which
have their viscosity temporarily reduced by dilation in a
volatile oil.

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• Bitumen is ‘cutback’ by adding controlled amounts
of petroleum distillates such as kerosene. This is
done to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen
temporarily so it can penetrate pavements more
effectively or to allow spraying at temperatures
that are too cold for successful sprayed sealing
with neat bitumen. After application, volatile oil
evaporates and bitumen reverts to its former
viscosity.

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 Mastic Bitumen
• is a type of bitumen/asphalt which differs from
dense graded asphalt and may have pulverized
rock matter.
• It is a plastic, non-slumping compound which
provides an effective seal between most roofing
materials.
• It is used for general waterproofing and sealing
repairs; sealing cracks, holes and joints either as a
finish or before the application of other materials
and for remedial work
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 Uses of bitumen
• Flexible pavement construction.
• It is used in damp-proof course in walls, under
basements and in lining tanks, swimming pools,
etc.
• It is used for filling up the joints in leaky roofs.
• It is used for making heat insulating materials for
buildings.

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 Asphalt
• Asphalt is defined as natural or mechanical
mixture in which bitumen is associated with inert
mineral matter.
• It is solid or semi-solid sticky product, formed by
partial evaporation or distillation of certain
petroleum oils.

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 Properties of asphalt
• It is sticky or adhesive and binds strongly as cement. It
adheres perfectly to wood, stone, concrete and metal.
• It is water-proof.
• It is durable and retains its properties for several years.
• It is elastic.
• It becomes plastic and workable when heated.
• If is not seriously affected by adverse weather.
• It is ductile and can be stretched without breaking.

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 Uses of asphalt
• It is used as damp-proof-course (DPC) for preventing dampness in
walls, floors and roof of buildings.
• It is used as water repellent layer over flat-roofs, arches and
basements.
• It is used for lining walls of tanks, swimming pools and in other
such places.
• It is used for preparing paints and roofing felts.
• It is the form of asphalt mortar and asphalt concrete which is
extensively used for paving roads in different ways such as surface
dressing, grouted macadam, coated macadam, etc.
• It is used for flooring purposes

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 Types of asphalt
• Natural asphalt
– Lake asphalt: it is obtained from lakes of Trinidad and Bermudez
(South America) at depths varying from 3 to 60 m. it is a
composite mineral containing about 40 to 70 % of pure
bitumen.
– Rock asphalt: It is natural asphalt impregnated in limestone
rocks found in some parts of Switzerland, France, and Germany.
It contains about 4 to 20 % pure bitumen by volume, the rest
consists of calcareous materials.

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 Forms of asphalt
• Asphaltic cement/oxidized Asphalt
– It is prepared by blowing air through melted asphalt at high
temperature. The asphalt is oxidised and the resulting product
is plastic in nature.
– Uses: roofing, flooring, water proofing and in expansion joints in
concrete.
• Asphaltic emulsion
– It is prepared by mixing asphalt with 50 to 60 % water in
presence of 1 % of emulsifying agent.
– On evaporation of water, the emulsion breaks and it forms a
water proofing layer.
– It can be applied in cold conditions.
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 Forms of asphalt
• Cut-back asphalt
– It is a liquid asphalt and is prepared by dissolving asphalt in a
volatile solvent. It can be applied at normal temperature in cold
condition.
– Uses: used for preparing bituminous paints, for repairing roofs.
• Mastic asphalt
– it is manufactured by adding pulverized natural rock gradually
to molten refined bitumen, agitating the mixture for about 5
hours (200-250 oC) and placing it into moulds for cooling.
– The mass consolidates into hard elastic blocks which can be re-
melted when used for pavements.
– It is tough, durable, nonabsorbent, damp proof, and noiseless.
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 Tar
• Tar
– It is a black viscous liquid produced by destructive distillation of
organic materials such as coal, peat, wood, or oil.
– Depending upon the source of origin, it is classified as coal tar,
wood tar, and mineral tar.
• Uses
– It is used for roofing and road making.
– It is used for making bituminous paints and water-proofing
compounds.
– Coal tar is used as a preservative for timber.

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 Tar
• Coal tar
– It is obtained, as a byproduct in the destructive distillation of
coal, or in the manufacture of coal gas.
– It is heavy, strong smelling and black.
– It has high specific gravity and viscosity, and good adhesive
properties.
• Wood tar
– It is obtained by destructive distillation of resinous wood (pine
etc.)
• Mineral tar
– It is produced by distillation of bituminous shales.
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 Primary Distress Modes HMA Pavements

Rutting

5 - 15 m Fatigue Cracking

Thermal Cracking Moisture Damage?

Plexiglas Low-temperature thermal

Salt Water Intermediate-temperature

Molasses High-temperature
rutting

-25 0 25 50 75
Approximate Temperature,°C
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