Bitumen Viscosity Test
Viscosity denotes the fluid property of Bituminous material and it is a measure of resistance to flow. At the application temperature, this characteristic greatly influences the strength of resulting paving mixes.
Low or High Viscosity during compaction or mixing has been observed to result in lower stability values. At High Viscosity, it resists the compactive effort and thereby resulting mix is heterogeneous, hence low stability values. And at low viscosity instead of providing a uniform film over aggregates, it will lubricate the aggregate particles.
Orifice type viscometers are used to indirectly find the viscosity of liquid binders like Cutbacks and Emulsions.
The Viscosity expressed in seconds is the time taken by the 50ml Bitumen material to pass through the orifice of a cup, under standard test conditions and specified temperature. Viscosity of a Cutback can be measured with either 4.0mm orifice at 250C or 10mm orifice at 250C or 400C.
