Bitumen is an essential component of our infrastructure . The substance is widely used in waterproofing, sealing, and insulating various materials in a variety of industries. Apart from that, bitumen is frequently utilized as a powerful binder in road construction. Bitumen not only decreases road building costs, but it also minimises the need for maintenance and extends the service life of roads worldwide.
Bitumen comes in a variety of forms and grades. Bitumen has diverse traits and properties depending on its source -natural or refined. As a result, bitumen is classified into distinct grades with various purposes. Bitumen prices vary with respect to the grades.
What is bitumen, and how is it made?
Bitumen is a petroleum-based compound that is used to bind stones and sands as well as to produce asphalt for road construction. The distillation of crude oil produces the bulk of bitumen around the world.
What exactly is the distinction between bitumen, tar, and asphalt?
There are many parallels between bitumen, asphalt, and tar. As a result, some people use the terms interchangeably. These three materials, however, are different.
The primary distinction between bitumen and tar is that each element is derived from different sources. Bitumen prices differ based on the usage that comes from grades. Bitumen is derived from crude oil, whereas tar is derived from coal or wood. Because these two materials have different qualities and applications based on their sources, we cannot substitute tar for bitumen.
Bitumen and asphalt are also two distinct materials. Bitumen is an adhesive that is ideal for gluing sand and stones together and making asphalt for road construction. Bitumen alone is insufficient for road paving.
It comes in various forms and varied bitumen prices.
Bitumen is classified into two types: natural and refined.
The refined variety of bitumen is created by distilling crude oil, but the natural type is extracted from bituminous sands and rocks that evolved naturally during 360 million years.
Bitumen in various grades
Because different types of crude oil produce bitumen with vastly varying characteristics, sorting bitumen is critical. Refineries utilise a variety of standard tests to grade bitumen depending on its qualities, including viscosity, penetration value, performance, and uniformity. The outcomes of these tests include bitumen penetration and viscosity grades. The viscosity grades – like VG10, VG20,VG30, VG40, etc.—are most widely used by contractors and builders. Other bitumen grades, such as cutback bitumen, oxidized bitumen, and bitumen emulsions, are classified based on their manufacturing technique. The manufacturing technique is an important differentiator with respect to bitumen prices.
In order to get bitumen at the best prices in the market, OfBusiness is the place to be.
Our in-house support will make sure that there is no delay or dearth of quality bitumen.