PAVEMENT MATERIALS

Module 2, Lecture 8
Aggregate Properties (Part 2)
NIKHIL SABOO
CIVIL ENGINEERING

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WHAT ARE WE GOING TO LEARN?
• ORIGIN AND TYPES

• PRODUCTION AND STORAGE

• AGGREGATE CLASSIFICATION AND GRADATION

• AGGREGATE MINERALOGY AND IMPORTANCE

• AGGREGATE SHAPE AND TEXTURE

• AGGREGATE PROPERTIES

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Abrasion Resistance: Los-Angeles Abrasion Value
• Indirect measurement of abrasive strength of aggregates used in construction of roads.
• Empirical test: Previous studies have not found good correlation with performance.
Indicator of amount of dust which is generated

https://www.globalgilson.com/blog/aggregate-
abrasion-testing-part-2-the-la-abrasion-
test#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20(L.A.)%20
Abrasion%20Test%20is%20widely%20used%20as,
abrasive%20charge%20of%20steel%20balls.

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Abrasion Resistance
• Take oven dried aggregates
• Put the materials in the machine
with the respective abrasive
charges
• Start the test: 20-33 rev/min; 500
rev for A, B, C, D & 1000 rev for E,
F, G
• Pass the materials using 1.7 mm IS
Sieve
• Materials coarser than 1.7 mm are Layer Type Max Value, %
washed, dried and weighed. WBM/WMM 40
• Ratio of material passing to total DBM 35
weight is reported as Los Angeles BC 30
Abrasion Value
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• Micro Deval Test can also be used
• Gives better representation of abrasion
resistance
• Micro Deval tends to polish aggregates
while LA abrasion tends to break them
• 1500 gm sample immersed in 2 litres
water for atleast 1 hr
• Steel charges (5000 gm) placed in the
machine
• Run machine at 100 rpm. Number of
revolutions ranges from 9000 to 12000
and time from 95 to 120 mins
• Material passing 1.18 mm is used for
calculating abrasion resistance

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Durability and Soundness
• Resistance to the action of wetting/drying and/or freezing/thawing
• Oven dried aggregates retained on 4.75 mm used and separated into individual size
fractions ranging from 80 mm to 4.75 mm
• Aggregates immersed in saturated solution of Sodium/Magnesium Sulfate for 16-18 hrs
• Drain for 15 minutes, dry in oven and cool at room temperature
• Salt crystals are formed indicating formation of ice
• 5 cycles carried out
• Calculate loss in weight
• Should not be more than 12% and 18% for
Sodium/Magnesium Sulfate
• Correlation with performance is not known
• Aggregates prone to higher loss in weight has shown good
performance
• Not suitable for HMA aggregates
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Amount and Quality of Clay (Deleterious materials)
• Sand Equivalent Test
• Quantifies the amount of clay/fine dust in fine
aggregates
• Conducted on aggregates passing 4.75 mm sieve
• Aggregates immersed in flocculating solution of calcium
chloride and glycerine, shaken, and allowed to sit for 20
minutes
• Clay gets separated from the rest of fine materials
• Defined as the ratio of height of sand to the total height
(sand + clay) in the vertical measuring tube
• A minimum value of 40-50 is desired
• Quick field test
• Good correlation with stripping

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Amount and Quality of Clay (Deleterious materials)
• Liquid Limit (LL), Plastic Limit (PL) and Plasticity Index (PI)
• Done on material passing 425 micron sieve
• PI is calculated which quantifies the amount and type of clay in the fine
aggregates
• No reported correlation with field performance
• Consistency (degree of firmness): very soft, soft, stiff, very stiff and hard
• Can be expressed using Atterberg Limits
• Liquid Limit (LL): Transition of soil from liquid state to
plastic state
• Plastic Limit (PL): Plastic to semi-solid. Thread made of 3
mm dia crumbles.
• Plasticity Index (PI): LL-PL is an important measure of
plastic behavior of soil
• A value higher than 4 is not recommended
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www.fhwa.dot.gov%2Fengineering%2Fgeotech%2Fpubs%
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ci https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcivilblog.org%
vil-qaqc.com%2F2020%2F06%2Fplastic-limit-test-of-soil-as- 2F2013%2F05%2F14%2Fliquid-limit-test-of-soil-using-casagrande-
per.html&psig=AOvVaw0sAxIiy_pqX5Z7DNzJkrOM&ust=1641528 apparatus-is-2720-part-5-1985%2F&psig=AOvVaw0RDU-
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 Type of Pavement Layer LL PI
Bituminous Layer <4

Granular Base WBM < 20 <6

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Amount and Quality of Clay (Deleterious materials)
• Methylene Blue Test
• French test: Quantifies the ‘quality’ of clay fines (organic,
expansive, having iron hydroxides, etc.)
• 10 g (passing 75 µ) sample dispersed in 30 g distilled water
in a beaker
• 1 g methylene blue dissolved in enough distilled water to
produce 200 ml solution
• MB titrated stepwise in 0.5 ml aliquots into continuously
stirred fine aggregate suspension
• Drop of aggregate suspension removed using a glass rod
and placed on filter paper
• End: outer ring of clear water turns light blue

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Amount and Quality of Clay (Deleterious materials)
• Methylene Blue Test
• Reported as ‘mg’ of MB per gram of FA fraction.
• The MBV is proportional to the product of clay content and specific surface area
of clay
• A low value of 5-6 is most desirable. More than 20 can be considered as a failed
condition
• Good indicator of moisture susceptibility

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Thank You

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