Bitumen Penetration Grade

Penetration Grade Bitumen or Paving Grade Bitumen is a standard bitumen known as a crucial element for road construction and for the production of asphalt with superior qualities, which is very important once it bounds the aggregates and creates a unique cohesion and stability to the bituminous mix. This grade of Bitumen is mainly used in the production of hot mix asphalt for bases and wearing courses. Penetration Grade Bitumen supplied by RDR Energy is petroleum grade bitumen, manufactured from fractional / vacuum distillation of crude oil. The Bitumen supplied by RDR Energy is produced from vacuum residue (short residue) feedstock. Penetration Grade bitumen are specified by the penetration and softening point test. The penetration grade bitumen have a thermoplastic property which causes the material to soften at high temperatures and to harden at lower temperatures. This unique temperature/viscosity relationship is essential when determining the performance parameters such as the adhesion, rheology, durability and application temperatures of bitumen.

The penetration grade bitumen, also known as refinery bitumen, is manufactured at different viscosities. The penetration test is carried out to characterize the bitumen hardness. Thus, it has the name penetration bitumen. The penetration bitumen grades range from 15 to 450 for road bitumen. But the most commonly used range is 25 to 200. This is acquired by monitoring the test carried out i.e. the distillation process. The partial control of bitumen residual fluxing with the oils can help in resulting the required hardness. Penetration grading quantifies the following asphalt concrete characteristics.

• Penetration depth of a 100 g needle 25° C (77° F)
• Flash point temperature
• Ductility at 25°C (77°F)
• Solubility in trichloroethylene
• Thin film oven test(accounts for the effects of short-term aging that occurs during mixing with hot aggregate)
• Retained penetration
• Ductility at 25° C (77° F)