UTILIZATION OF POND ASH AND STONE DUST AS MINERAL FILLERS IN POLYMER MODIFIED BITUMINOUS CONCRETE MIX

A bituminous paving mix is a blend of aggregates and binder used to develop strong and long-lasting mix, to resist traffic load. A bituminous mix has complex temperature sensitive behaviour (Its response to a given loading is very much dependent on temperature and loading). At high temperatures, bituminous binders have a purely ductile behaviour, whereas, at very low temperature they exhibit brittle behaviour. So, making bitumen less susceptible to temperature is one of the possible solutions. Use of bitumen blended with modifiers and fillers affects the Marshall properties, strength and also increases the fatigue life. From literature review, it is observed that modified binder stiffens the mixes to reduce the thermal cracking and rutting. Mineral fillers act as anti-stripping agents to mixes, fills the voids and help in bonding the aggregates and binders. In the current investigation an attempt is made to design and compare the Polymer Modified Bituminous Concrete mix blended with Stone Dust and with Pond Ash as mineral fillers(individually) using Marshall method of mix design, determining Indirect Tensile Strength and Tensile strength Ratio of Polymer Modified Bituminous Concrete mix prepared at Optimum Bitumen Content. Polymer Modified Bituminous Concrete mix blended with Stone Dust as mineral filler is performing better than Polymer Modified Bituminous Concrete + Pond Ash as mineral filler with respect to 1) Marshall properties, 2) Indirect Tensile characteristics & 3) Moisture susceptibility.