Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1

OBJECTIVE .......................................................................................................................... 1

THEORY ............................................................................................................................... 2

APPARATUS ........................................................................................................................ 3

PROCEDURE ....................................................................................................................... 4

RESULTS ............................................................................................................................. 5

CALCULATION ..................................................................................................................... 5

DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................ 6

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 7

RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................... 8

REFERENCE ........................................................................................................................ 9

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 INTRODUCTION

Bitumen Penetration Test is a measures of the hardness or softness of bitumen

by measuring the depth in tenths of a millimetre to which a standard loaded needle
will penetrate vertically in 5 seconds. BIS had standardized the equipment and test
procedure. The penetrometer consists of a needle assembly with a total weight of 100g
and a device for releasing and locking in any position. The bitumen is softened to a
pouring consistency, stirred thoroughly and poured into containers at a depth at least
15 mm in excess of the expected penetration. The test should be conducted at a
specified temperature of 25o C. It may be noted that penetration value is largely
influenced by any inaccuracy with regards to pouring temperature, size of the needle,
weight placed on the needle and the test temperature. A grade of 40/50 bitumen
means the penetration value is in the range 40 to 50 at standard test conditions. In
hot climates, a lower penetration grade is preferred.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the experiments is to measure the penetration value of bitumen, this is
melted and kept at a room temperature of 250C.

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 THEORY

Penetration value test on bitumen is a measure of hardness or consistency of

bituminious material. Penetration value is the vertical distance traversed or penetrated by the
point of a standard needle into the bituminous material under specific conditions of load, time
and temperature. This distance is measured in ten millimeter. Also, the penetration test of
bitumen is used to measure the consistency of bitumen.

The penetration is measured with a penetrometer by means of which standard needle

is applied to the sample under specific conditions. The temperature, load and time of
solid bituminous are understood to be 24-26◦c, 100g and 5s respectively. For semi-
solid bituminous, the penetration is more than the hard ones. Therefore, penetration test
of bituminous materials is important and very wide, application to classify the bituminous to
specific grade. Although penetration testis classified as empirical test, it is very easy and fast
to be done.

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 APPARATUS

1. Penetration needle
2. Water bath
3. Time device
4. Penetration container
5. Semi-automatic digital penetrometer
6. Asphalt sample
7. Thermometer

Figure 1 General Penetration Test Set Up Figure 2 Bitumen

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 PROCEDURE

1. The sample is heated with care, stirred as soon as possible to prevent local
overheating, until it has become sufficiently fluid to pour. Incorporating bubbles was
avoided into the sample.

2. The sample was poured into the sample container to a depth such that, when cooled
to the temperature of test, the depth of the sample was at least 10mm greater than the
depth to which the needle was expected to penetrate.

3. Covered loosely each container as a protection against dust and allowed cooling in the
atmosphere at temperature between 15℃ and 30℃ for 1 to 1 and half hour.

4. The needle holder was examined and guided to establish the absence of water and
other extraneous matter.

5. The sample container (100gram) was placed directly on the submerged stand in the
penetrometer. The sample container was kept completely covered with water at
25±0.5℃ temperature.

6. Position the needle by slowly lowering it until its tip just makes contact with the surface
of the sample.

7. The pointer of penetrometer was bring to zero.

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8. The needle holder was released for specific period of time (5second) and reading of
10

mm was recorded. If the container move, the result was ignored.

9. Determined at least 5 point at the surface of the sample not less than 10mm from the
side of the container and not less than 10mm apart. The needle was cleaned before
the was repeated.

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 RESULTS

Test No. 1 2 3 4 5

Highest and lowest 19mm-9mm 16mm-9mm 27mm-17mm 11mm-9mm 21mm-10mm

determination

Penetration 100 70 100 20 110

Average Penetration 80 pen

CALCULATION

Penetration Test 1 = (19-9 )x10

= 100

Penetration Test 2 = (16-9 )x10

= 70

Penetration Test 3 = (27-17 )x10

= 100

Penetration Test 4 = (11-9 )x10

= 20

Penetration Test 5 = (21-10 )x10

= 110

100 + 70 + 100 + 20 + 110

𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = = 80 𝑝𝑒𝑛
5

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 DISCUSSION

In this experiment, the penetration value of bitumen, this is melted and kept at a room
is measured as 80 penetration. In test no. 1, the penetration value of bitumen is 100
penetration followed by 70 penetration in test no. 2. In test no. 3, 100 penetration value of
bitumen is measured. In test no. 4, the penetration value of bitumen is 20 penetration followed
by 110 penetration in test no. 5. The average penetration value of bitumen from all 5 tests is
determined as the penetration value of bitumen, this is melted and kept at a room.

For the needle of penetration, the needle should sharp enough and cleaned with
benzene and dried before penetration. The needle of the instrument has broken and the
pointer of the needle has fracture. This also affects the result of this penetration test. The
needle material must be standard steel to avoid error in reading and needle to be bent during
penetration process.

Penetration test is a commonly adopted test on bitumen to grade the material in terms
of its hardness. A 80/100 grade bitumen indicates that its penetration value lies between 80 &
100.Grading of bitumen helps to assess its suitability in different climatic conditions and types
of construction. For bituminous macadam and penetration macadam, IRC suggests bitumen
grades 30/40, 60/70, 80/100. In warmer regions, lower penetration grades are preferred to
avoid softening whereas higher penetration grades like 180/200 are used in colder regions to
prevent the occurrence of excessive brittleness. High penetration grade is used in spray
application works.

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 CONCLUSION

Based on the all data that has been recorded and also the calculation that has been
calculated, all the objectives of the experiment which are to measure the penetration value of
bitumen, this is melted and kept at a room temperature of 250C. The penetration value from
this experiment is 80 pen .As the result, as the penetration decreases the hardness increases
and as the penetration increases the viscosity decreases.Bitumen Penetration test is a
commonly adopted test on asphalt to grade the material in termsof its hardness. An 80/100
grade bitumen indicates that its penetration value lies between 80 & 100.Grading of asphalt
helps to assess its suitability in different climaticconditions and types of construction. In
Malaysia, lower penetration grades are preferredto avoid softening whereas higher
penetration grades like 180/200 are used in colder regions to prevent the occurrence of
excessive brittleness. High penetration grade isused in spray application works.

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 RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to improve the distillation column experiment, a lot of recommendations should

be considered. Firstly, the experiment should be repeated a few times in order to get more
accurate result. From the all data repeating, the average will be obtained and when the number
of repeating increase the opportunity to get the accurate result will increase.

The students should understand the experiment first before conduct the experiment in
the laboratory and it is important for students to know how the application operates in order to
avoid any offense to collect data. The other recommendation is eye protection, such as safety
glasses and/or face shields, shall be worn when handling hot bitumen or PMBs. eyes must
directly to the meniscus at the manometer ruler during taking the pressure drop value in order
to avoid parallax error.

Next recommendation is the heat-resistant gloves, with close-fitting cuffs, and other
suitable protective clothing, shall be worn when handling hot bitumen or PMBs.There shall be
no smoking while handling hot bitumen or PMBs. While the material is still cold, loosen the lid
of the sample container (invert the can and warm the lid, if necessary), or punch a hole in the
lid. After finish the experiment, keep the sample because it can be reused again

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 REFERENCE

1. Lectur Note,”Material for Highway”.Madam Syakirah,(Lecturer) ,Universiti

Malaysia Perlis

2. Highway Engineering,C. Venkatramaiah ,New Age International, Jan 1, 2007

3. Materials for Civil & Highway Engineers ,GOPAL AUTOR RANJAN, A. S.

R AUTOR RAO ,New Age International, 2000 - 774 pages