Rheological Evaluation of Bitumen Binders with Polystyrene Waste: Fid-Bau Portal

Rheological Evaluation of Bitumen Binders with Polystyrene Waste

Mahida, Supriya / Shah, Yogesh U. / Sangita / Mehta, Prakash

The principal focus of the current study is to evaluate the influence of polystyrene [as a polystyrene solution (PS)] to resolve the traditional limitations of some of the physical parameters, such as less elastic recovery (ER), storage instability and high temperature mixing requirements for bituminous binders. The conventional bitumen VG 30 and four samples of PS modified bitumen were prepared by modifying the conventional bitumen with PS waste using PS solution at different proportions. The physical parameters were studied by performing penetration, softening point, viscosity, elastic recovery and storage stability tests. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) test was used to classify the various functional groups present in the binders. The rheological properties were determined by dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) including multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR). These spectroscopy and rheological experimental results of PS modified bitumen were compared with conventional bitumen. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis was used to examine the morphology of the bituminous binder. The experimental results indicated that the penetration, softening point, viscosity and storage stability of the modified bitumen with PS improved considerably. FTIR analysis confirms the existence of the styrene in the PS modified bitumen. The ER, DSR, MSCR and BBR tests indicated that this process of modification has a major influence in better the elastic and rheological characteristics of the PS modified bitumen. Overall, the findings showed that PS modified bitumen binders have better performance than conventional bitumen and successfully developed a wet process and a solution based new technique to handle the PS wastage.