Asphalt & Bitumen Rheology Series

This webinar took place on January 17. You can watch the recording here free of charge:

In this webinar we talked about asphalt and bitumen binder rheology, focusing on industry standards with a basic introduction to viscosity, modulus, compliance and viscoelasticity.

This webinar took place on February 21. You can watch the recording here free of charge:

This webinar will cover the basic principles of dynamic mechanical testing, how to measure the viscoelasticity of a material and why it is important.  Rheological measurements of modulus, viscosity, CreepCreep describes a time and temperature dependent plastic deformation under a constant force. When a constant force is applied to a rubber compound, the initial deformation obtained due to the application of the force is not fixed. The deformation will increase with time.creep compliance and recoverable compliance will be presented along with how these properties provide a better understanding of material performance.  The attendee will gain a greater understanding of the visco-elastic spectra, why it is referred to as a material's "fingerprint" and how to use this tool to predict product performance.  We will discuss and create Master Curves, Black Space diagrams and techniques to quantify data quality together with best practices of data collection.

This presentation will complement the 'Introduction to Asphalt & Bitumen Rheology' Part 1, which covered Shear Flow (shear viscosity). Part 2 will explore DSR deformation testing in cyclic oscillation mode which provides the basic foundation for understanding non-destructive rheological measurements.

This webinar took place on April 6. You can watch the recording here free of charge:

This presentation will discuss the current state of asphalt binder specifications to AASHTO and ASTM. It will cover some background to Superpave and its evolution from MP-1 to M320 to M332 as well as some of the active research looking forward. It will touch on viscosity and penetration which preceded Superpave including various 'Performance-Graded (PG) BinderA performance-based asphalt grading system intended to minimize the potential for rutting, fatigue cracking and thermal cracking as initially defined by Superpave under AASHTO M-320 and M-332 including later equivalents by ASTM, EN, DIN, etc.PG plus specifications' used by some State DOTs. The intension is to provide some explanations to many of the hows and whys behind many of the current testing specifications.

This presentation will provide a basic understanding and background of asphalt binder testing and is suitable for anyone with an interest in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of why and how these tests apply.

This webinar took place on April 26, 2023. You can watch the recording here free of charge:

This presentation will review some alternate testing techniques which relate to several commonly performed roofing and waterproofing asphalt binder tests. These methods will be discussed along with actual data presented from automated DSR determination of softening point, penetration, and rotational viscosity. When implemented for quality control, intelligent software will be used for logical decision making which can be used for determination of pass/fail criteria, report generation and escalation decisions for out of spec materials to company procedures.

Other techniques, if time permits will be shown to investigate adhesive pull off, and high shear to simulate processing conditions will also be presented.