Investigation of the physical, chemical, and rheological properties of bituminous binders prepared with activated carbons obtained from different organic wastes

Bitumen is a viscoelastic and thermoplastic material obtained by refining petroleum. Road pavements using bitumen as a binder are defined as flexible pavements due to this feature. However, structural deterioration occurs due to its sensitivity to various effects. In order to prevent these deteriorations, various additives are used and polymer materials such as Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) are widely preferred. In recent years, due to the disadvantages of SBS such as high cost, low temperature cracks, etc., researchers have sought to develop different additives. The aim of this thesis study is to investigate an alternative additive to SBS, which is the most widely used additive in modified binders. In recent years, many studies have been carried out to obtain activated carbon from various organic wastes and these materials have been used in the production/improvement of various engineering materials. In this thesis, while SBS was used at a rate of 3%, active carbon was obtained from olive pomace and pomegranate wastes through various chemical processes. Modified bitumens were obtained by using the two different active carbons obtained as additives. Two different active carbons obtained from two different wastes were used in bitumen modification at 3 different rates. Penetration, softening point, rotational viscometer test (RV), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests were performed on the modified binders obtained by using 5%, 10% and 15% active carbon by weight of bituminous binder and compared with the pure binder. The effects of the obtained modified binders on the physical, chemical and rheological properties were investigated. As a result, it was shown that the consistency of the bitumen increased significantly with the use of additives, the degree of penetration increased and the softening point values increased compared to the pure binder.