PAVEMENT MATERIALS

Module 3, Lecture 2
CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
NIKHIL SABOO
CIVIL ENGINEERING

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WHAT ARE WE GOING TO LEARN?
• BITUMEN- A BINDING AGENT
• PRODUCTION OF BITUMEN
• CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• INTRODUCTION TO VISCOELASTICITY
• RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
• GRADING OF BITUMEN
• MODIFIED BITUMEN
• BITUMEN EMULSION
• CUTBACK BITUMEN

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• An understanding of the chemical factors affecting physical properties of bitumen
is fundamental: Affects Performance
• Bitumen is one of the components of crude oil which is a mixture of several hydro
carbon molecular groups: Amount and nature are highly variable.
• Elemental Composition:
• Carbon: 82-88%
• Hydrogen: 8-11%
• Sulfur: 0-6%
• Oxygen: 0-1.5% Heteroatoms
• Nitrogen: 0-1%
Trace quantities of metals such as Vanadium, Nickel, Iron, Magnesium and
Calcium which occurs in form of inorganic salts and oxides.

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Diverse molecular structure
• Typical arrangements:
• Straight or branched chains (Aliphatic or Paraffinic type)
• Simple or complex saturated rings (Naphthenic type)
• One or more stable six-carbon condensed unsaturated ring structure
(Aromatic type)

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Functional/Polar Groups:
• Different molecular arrangements containing S, O and N
• Creates imbalance of electrochemical forces and thereby produces a dipole
• They impart functionality to the bitumen and is responsible for interactions
within the bitumen and other surfaces
• Amount of non-polar group, which act as dispersing agents for polar groups
also play a major role in determining the effect of polar group
• For example, pyridines tend to adhere to aggregate
surfaces
• Carboxylic acid group can make salts and may be
removed from the aggregate interface easily

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 Sulfur Compounds Polysulfides
Sulfides
Thiols
Thiophenes
Different Nitrogen Compounds Pyridinic
compounds Pyrrole, indole, carbazole
Porphyrins
containing
Oxygen Compounds Carboxylic acids/naphthenic
functional groups in acids
bitumen Phenols
Ketones
Esters
Ethers
Anhydrides

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Compositional Model:
• Complex chemical composition
• Complete analysis is extremely difficult and laborious, if not impossible
• Correlation with mechanical response is impractical

• The most simple and generally accepted model is to consider bitumen

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Asphaltenes (Complex Aromatic Material):
• High molecular weight dark brown friable solids
• 5-25% having average particle size of 2-5 nm
• Precipitated by non-polar solvents (n-pentane/n-
heptane)
• Complex molecule with highest polarity
• High tendency to associate and interact
• Viscosity-building component.
• Low asphaltene content may lead to tenderness in
the mix

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Resins (n-heptane soluble):
• Dark, semi-solid/solid
• Fluid when heated, brittle when cold
• Being polar they are very adhesive
• Peptizing (dispersing) agents for asphaltenes
• 15-25%
• On oxidation they yield asphaltenes like
molecules
• Balance between resins and asphaltenes is
important for appropriate dispersion of
asphaltenes. The relative proportion strongly
affects the rheological properties

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Aromatics (Lowest molecular weight napthenic
aromatic compound):
• Represents majority portion of dispersing medium
• Non-polar with high dissolving capability for higher
MW H-C.
• 40-60%

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Saturates (Straight or branched chain aliphatic hydrocarbon
together with alkyl napthenes and some alkyl aromatics):
• They are non-polar viscous oils
• Straw coloured or colourless
• 5-20%

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Asphalt as a colloidal system
• Not a true solution but a colloidal or micellar system
• Relative amount and characteristics of each component govern the
‘type’ of colloidal system
• Sol: Resins keep asphaltenes highly peptized: exhibit Newtonian
behavior. Nitrogen bases in asphalt are typically responsible for such
characteristic.
• Gel: Resins are not effective in peptizing. Excessive
presence of paraffins in relative to nitrogen bases.
Exhibit non-Newtonian behavior. Suggests
separation of dispersed and dispersing medium.

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N. Nciri, N. Kim, N. Cho, Mater. Chem.
Phys. 193 (2017) 477‒495. DOI: 10.1016/j.
matchemphys.2017.03.014

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CHEMISTRY OF BITUMEN
• Separation Technique
• Chromatographic technique are most
widely used
• Asphaltenes are precipitated using n-
heptane
• Heptane solution containing remaining
maltene fraction is introduced in a
chromatographic column (silica-gel/alumina)
• Adsorbed fraction are sequentially desorbed
(washed out) using different solvents of
increasing polarity to get the remaining
three fractions

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Sakib N, Bhasin A (2019). Measuring polarity-based distributions (SARA)
of bitumen using simplified chromatographic
Techniques, International Journal of Pavement Engineering,
[Link]

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Thank You

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