Use of waste polyethylene in bituminous concrete mixes

Bituminous Concrete (BC) is a composite material mostly used in construction projects like road surfacing, airports, parking lots etc. It consists of asphalt or bitumen (used as a binder) and mineral aggregate which are mixed together & laid down in layers then compacted. Now a days, the steady increment in high traffic intensity in terms of commercial vehicles, and the significant variation in daily and seasonal temperature put us in a demanding situation to think of some alternatives for the improvisation of the pavement characteristics and quality by applying some necessary modifications which shall satisfy both the strength as well as economical aspects. Also considering the environmental approach, due to excessive use of polythenes in day to day business, the pollution to the environment is enormous. Since the polythenes are not biodegradable, the need of the current hour is to use the waste polythene in some beneficial purposes. This paper presents a research conducted to study the behavior of BC mix modified with waste polythene. Various percentages of polythene are used for preparation of mixes with a selected aggregate grading as given in the IRC Code. The role of polythene in the mix is studied for various engineering properties by preparing Marshall samples of BC mixtures with and without polymer. Marshall properties such as stability, flow value, unit weight, air voids are used to determine optimum polythene content for the given grade of bitumen (80/100)