Bitumen is modified by adding thermoplastic or elastomeric virgin polymers. There is constant encouragement for the use of plastic waste in the road sector nowadays to reduce the impact on environment and health hazard.Thermocol waste is one of them. Thermocol is basically Polystyrene which is very slow to biodegrade and a big controversy among environmentalists. By comparing thermocol with plastic, thermocol is ecologically more harmful than other plastic as plastic recycled easily than thermocol. Worldwide disposal of thermocol waste is a serious problem. At the same time, finding proper use for the disposed plastics waste is the need of the hour. As the road traffic is increasing, there is a need to increase the load bearing capacities of the roads. The thermocol waste can be used to modify the bitumen to improve their physical characteristics for particular road mix and climatic conditions.
This paper focuses on the use of thermocol wastes which is mixed with VG 10 bitumen in proportions of 0.5%, 1% and 2% by weight of bitumen. The physical properties of neat bitumen are evaluated and compared with modified VG 10 bitumen having thermocol. An optimum dosage of selected thermocol modifier is determined. The morphological changes on the modified binder containing optimum thermocolquantity were studied by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to assess the compatibility of bitumen with thermocol.