CRUMB RUBBER MODIFIED BITUMEN. OTHER WAY TO RECYCLE

摘要

Use of grinded crumb rubber (CR) is a technology which is being used for already 40 years. However, the introduction of European Directives in Spain has generated an important awareness as far as recycling and exploitation of this residue in road construction is concerned. Probisa has a long tradition in this investigation field: studies of bituminous mixes carried out both using the dry and the humid way. Based on its experience, Probisa has developed a wide range of polymer modified bituminous binders exclusively resulting from CR. Besides the intrinsic characteristics of the binder, special attention has been paid to its viscosity to obtain bituminous mixes which can be handled under the same conditions as conventional PMB. In this way, they are coherent with the ecoefficiency objective, aimed at in all recycling processes. The paper also deals with limitations of current empirical test methods when it comes to quantifying characteristics of bituminous binders. As an alternative, a methodology based on functional behaviour tests is proposed.