Institute of Technology of Cambodia Road design II (TP)

4. Precautions
To ensure the test is done safely and efficiently some safety precautions are taken,
including:
- Apply some talc (baby powder) onto your fingers when rolling the bitumen sample to
prevent it sticking to your fingers.
- When putting the bitumen samples into the pycnometer, be cautious to not let it touch
and stick onto any dry surface of the pycnometer.
- Handle tools (pycnometer and glass pane) with care to prevent any accidents from
occurring in the lab.

5. Procedure
1) Fill the pycnometer with water up to the marking and wipe off any excess water. Weigh
the pycnometer, the weight is referred as 𝒎𝟏 .
2) Pour out almost half of the water from the pycnometer and wipe off any excess water.
Weigh the pycnometer again, the weight is referred as 𝒎𝟐 .
3) Roll bitumen sample into tiny balls and put them into the pycnometer from Step 2 until
the water level rises. Weigh the pycnometer again, the weight is referred as 𝒎𝟑 .
4) Fill in the pycnometer from Step 3 until it rises up to the marking from Step 1 and wipe
off any excess water. Weigh the pycnometer again, the weight is referred as 𝒎𝟒 .

Note:
- To prevent the bitumen pieces from sticking together, gently shake the pycnometer in
intervals.
- To clean the pycnometer, fill it in fully with water then shake out the water and
bitumen into a bowl.

Table 7: The process of the test

𝒎𝟏 𝒎𝟐 𝒎𝟑 𝒎𝟒

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 Institute of Technology of Cambodia Road design II (TP)

𝒎𝟏 𝒎𝟐 𝒎𝟑 𝒎𝟒

6. Data and Calculation

There are 4 masses that needs to be measured and recorded:
 𝒎𝟏 : mass of pycnometer + full water (until marking)
 𝒎𝟐 : mass of pycnometer + water (some water is poured out)
 𝒎𝟑 : mass of pycnometer + water + bitumen
 𝒎𝟒 : mass of pycnometer + full water + bitumen

Table 8: Data obtained

Mass
Test 𝒎𝟏 (𝒈) 𝒎𝟐 (𝒈) 𝒎𝟑 (𝒈) 𝒎𝟒 (𝒈)
1 147.11 118.42 128.42 147.21
2 147.93 125.44 131.65 148.23
3 147.17 120.81 128.33 147.41

Note: The pycnometer used for the 2nd test is slightly different in dimensions from 1st and 3rd
test’s pycnometer.

Table 9: Data calculations

Test 𝒎𝒃 𝝆𝒃
1 10 1.01
2 6.25 1.05
3 7.52 1.03
Average 1.03

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