Experimental study of the influence of modified sulfur components on physical and mechanical characteristics of bitumen compositions

Abstract

In this research work, the physical, mechanical and performance characteristics of bituminous binder 90/130 before and after its modification with sulfur in the proportions of 10%, 30% and 50% of the binder weight were analyzed. Experimental results showed the effect of sulfur content on the mechanical characteristics of bituminous binder. By elemental analysis of the spectra of modified bitumen binder samples, it was found that there were no significant chemical changes with increasing sulfur content. The formation of new chemical compounds was not revealed, which is confirmed by the absence of new characteristic peaks in the spectra. Analysis and comparison of the experimental data of softening temperature showed an insignificant influence of the liquid heating rate on the concentration of the modifying agent. However, the increase of sulfur concentration more than 10% in the modified bitumen leads to an increase in softening temperature. This is due to the formation of denser structure and increase in viscosity of bitumen with increasing amount of sulfur in the system. Thus, the presence of sulfur as a dispersed phase in polymer bitumen has a natural effect on the mechanical characteristics of sulfur asphalt concretes, leading to an increase in their mechanical properties with increasing sulfur content.