EXAMINATION OF STORAGE STABILITY BEHAVIOUR OF POLYMER MODIFIED BITUMEN INVOLVING NANOCLAY

Abstract

In recent years, the use of nanomaterials has become widespread in the modification of bitumen due to developing nanotechnology. It has been observed that the physical and rheological properties of base and modified bitumens have improved as a result of the use of nanomaterials. In addition, the use of nanomaterials for the solution of the phase separation problem seen for the polymer modified bitumens had a positive effect. In this study, the effect of adding nanoclay into the polymer modified bitumen samples on storage stability was investigated. Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS), which is a widely used polymer type and Halloysite is a nanoclay type were determined as additives. The additive ratios were determined as 3%, 5% for SBS and 2%, 4% for Halloysite according to the studies in the literature. Modified bitumen samples were produced by high shear mixer. The polymer was added into the base bitumen then Halloysite was added in to the polymer modified bitumen during the production process. After the modified bitumen production, thin section samples were taken from each sample and examined under a microscope and the samples were subjected to the storage stability test. According to the results of the experiments, it was observed that Halloysite additive improves storage stability. However, this improvement is more effective in low polymer percentage. As the percentage of polymer increases, the improvement effect decreases, phase separation increases.