Using waste flexible polyvinyl chloride treated with DOP/calcium hydroxide for enriching the performance of oxidizing bitumen

Abstract

Now it is possible to get environmentally friendly bituminous material with promising engineering properties by improving the oxidized bitumen which has limited uses in industrial applications because it is a very hard and brittle material using waste flexible, non-biodegradable polyvinyl chloride (WFPVC) which causes numerous environmental problems. In this research, oxidizing bitumen was blended with 2 mass%, 4 mass%, 6 mass%, and 8 mass% of WFPVC. Calcium hydroxide and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) additives added to PVC absorb chloride radical, so the release of chlorine as HCl is dramatically reduced by additives. Water, acid, and alkali resistance was tested. Rotten test (penetration, softening point, and ductility), physical properties (impact, hardness, and adhesive), mechanical properties [tensile strength (Ts) MPa, elongation at break (Eb) %, Young’s modulus MPa, and hardness], and dynamic modulus were measured for the all prepared samples. The results showed that the prepared materials have high improvement in the physical and chemical properties, thermal stability, as well as mechanical and dynamic properties, which confirms that the materials prepared can be used as paints because the modified samples have a very good water, dilute acid, dilute alkalis, and aliphatic hydrocarbons resistance, furthermore having a good resistance when exposed to oils and greases, alcohols, but having poor resistance when exposed to aromatic hydrocarbons, and polymer additives greatly improve the chemical resistance of the prepared oxidizing bitumen formulations, as compared to unmodified one.