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Abstract
—The current interest in energy saving bitumen production techniques is great and several new predegreecelsiusesses have been developed to reduce the mixing and compaction temperatures for hot mix bitumen. In particular, Bitumen require high working temperatures, and harder requirements concerning fumes and carbon dioxide emissions have been introduced for such products. Consequently, the need of a new means of producing and placing of bitumen at lower temperatures is particularly large.
One way of reducing bitumen mixture temperature is by using special flow improving additives like polymer(wax). This technique has successively been tried in several studies for polymer modified bitumen used for bridge decks and parking areas in Sweden. However, there are some negative impacts like crack susceptibility at lower temperatures due to the addition of wax.
In this project, 4% montan waxwas used for one particular polymer modified bitumen. Type and amount of wax additive was selected based on results from earlier studies. The impact on binder, binder/filler mixtures and bitumen from production was tested in the laboratory, degree Celsius using on low temperature performance.
As expected, the addition of wax to the polymer modified binder showed a viscosity reduction at higher temperatures, corresponding to a similar positive effect of more than 10 degree Celsius on production and laying temperature for the bitumen