POLYMERIZATION OF ROADBUILDING BITUMENS USING DIFERENT TYPES OF ARTIFICAL POLYMERS

Zaradi vedno večjih cestnih in klimatskih obremenitev osnovni cestogradbeni bitumen ne zadošča več za uporabo za nekatere ceste, zato ga je treba ustrezno izboljšati. Potrebne spremembe lastnosti cestogradbenega bitumna oz. bitumenskih veziv omogočajo nekatere umetne snovi kot so polimerna sredstva. Če polimerno sredstvo homogeno vmešamo v cestogradbeni bitumen, lahko dobimo bitumen z bistveno boljšim lastnostmi. Za različne tipe bitumnov, ki jih uporabljajo v CM Celje d.d., smo z dodatkom elvaloy-a in lucobit-a, želeli ugotoviti razlike med lastnostmi polimernih bitumnov in primerjavo med njimi. Prav tako smo ugotavljali kakšna količina polimernega dodatka zadošča, da bi izboljšali cestogradbeni bitumen modificiran s polimeri zaradi vedno večjih cestnih in klimatskih obremenitev. Raziskave so pokazale, da vzorci polimerno modificiranega bitumna ustrezajo različnim kriterijem iz slovenskega in evropskega standarda. Evropski standard SIST EN 14023, ki je bolj odprt, ima nižje zahteve kot slovenski standard SIST EN 1035. Z dobljenimi rezultati pridemo do zaključka, da posamezni vzorec glede na njegove lastnosti (trdota, zmehčišče, sila, energija, duktilnost ter elastični povratek) lahko uvrščamo v različne kategorije.Due to increasing roads and climate loadings, basic roadbuilding bitumen is no longer satisfying for building some of the roads and therefore needs to be improved. Some of the synthetic substances like polymers enable to change characteristics of roadbuilding bitumn also known as bitumen binders. A better quality bitumen can be made if polymer is homogenicaly added into roadbuilding bitumen. With adding elvaloy and lucobit in polymer bitumens, we tried to discover the differences of their characteristics and compare the different types of bitumens that are all used in CMCelje d.d. We were also determining what quantity of polymer added is sufficient to improve roadbuilding bitumen modified with polymers due to increasing overloading of roads and climate. The research has shown that samples of polymer modified bitumens meet different Slovenian and European standards. More opened European standard SIST EN 14023 has lower criteria than Slovenian standard SIST EN 1035. Due to given results we can conclude that individual sample can be classified into different categories according to its properties (hardness, softening point, force, energy, ductility, and elastic return)