Types of Bitumen

Bitumen can be divided into two groups

Penetration Grade

ASTM D 946 – 40/50, 60/70, 80/100
BS EN 12591 – 35/50, 50/70, 70/100

Viscosity Grade

ASTM D3381-09 – AC10, AC20, AC30, AC40
IS 73:2013 – VG10, VG20, VG30, VG 40
AS 2008 (Viscosity @ 60°C)

Performance Grade

PG bitumen is bitumen which is graded based on its performance at different temperatures.

Natural Bitumen or Gilsonite

Gilsonite in mass is a shiny, black substance, brittle and can be easily crushed into a dark brown powder

Bitumen Emulsion

Cationic Rapid Setting – CRS-1, CRS-2
Cationic Medium Setting – CMS-2
Cationic Slow Setting – CSS-1, CSS-1h

Cutback Bitumen

Slow Curing – SC-70, SC-250, SC-800, SC-3000
Medium Curing – MC-30, MC-70, MC-250, MC-800, MC-3000
Rapid Curing – RC-70, RC-250, RC-800, RC-3000

Based on the generation source bitumen can be classified into three categories: Natural, petroleum asphalts, coal tar pitches:

  1. Natural bitumen: or native asphalts are a class of bitumen which have been naturally produced due to climate conditions in the course of time, and are used without the need to be processed in distillation ways; they are very varied regarding their composition and properties.
  2. Coal Tar Pitches: Are hard black substances which are formed as the result of coal tar distillation. Their new broken surface is shiny and when it is heated this has an effect which causes a decrease in viscosity which allows it to reach its melting point as per the production process used.
  3. Petroleum Asphalts/Bitumen: Is the bitumen which is derived from petroleum. These are solid and semi solid bitumen which are directly produced through distillation from petroleum or by additional operations such as air blowing. Compared with the other types, the above are more commonly used and have more applications.

Types of Bitumen based on their applications:

Based on their applications, bitumen can be divided into two groups:

  1. Road construction or thin bitumen
  2. Building bitumen (roof insulator) or hard bitumen

About 90% of the produced bitumen is used in road construction activities and 10% of it is used for insulation applications. The main part of bitumen is used in the road construction activities and by the municipalities for coating the streets. Road construction bitumen is usually classified according to its penetration. The penetration rate of bitumen material represents its strength and hardness which is defined as the number of penetration unit (one tenth millimetre) of one vertical standard needle in one bitumen sample, in certain time and weight on the needle and temperature. The penetration rate of bitumen is usually measured 25 degree centigrade with 100 gram weight and in 5 seconds. Road construction bitumen are “60 to 70” and ’85 to 100”. The numbers represent the range of bitumen penetration rate. Bitumen is hydrocarbon substance which is black to dark brown and quite solvable in carbon sulfur. It is solid in normal environment temperature but in increased temperature it first becomes paste and then liquid. It has two important properties, impenetrable against water and adhesiveness which makes it an important material for application.