Penetration grade bitumen is a straight run bitumen specified by the penetration and softening point test. Penetration bituminous asphalt soften at high temperature and harden at low temperature due to Having thermoplastic property. Penetration grade asphalt is manufactured by vacuum distillation of crude oil. The most common grade is bitumen 60/70 which can be used for many applications. The penetration bituminous asphalt with high penetration numbers which are soft, mostly used in cold weather conditions and hard bitumenous asphalt (low penetration number) can be used for warm weather condition.
The bitumen penetration grade 40/60 is semi hard penetration grade, with penetration between 40 and 60.Which is moastly used in road construction, asphalt pavement and manufacter of hot-mix asphalt.
Specification of penetration bitumen 40-60
Test method
Unit
Specification
Penetration @ 25°c
IP 49
mm/10
40/60
Softening point °c
IP 58
°C
48/56
Kinematic Viscosity @ 135⁰C
IP 370
mm2/s
325 min
Flash point °c
IP 36
230 min
Solubility is CS2(wt) %
IP 47
wt. %
99 min