[MUSIC] Dear participants, hello my name is Sophie Limborg. I'm the CEN/TC336 Chairperson. I've been working for the bitumen business for more than 12 years in different structures and in particular related to standard development. Now that you are familiar with some key characteristic of bitumen, and how they are determined, we are going to look together how the European specification on paving grade bitumen is settled and shall be used. I will also briefly explain how the EN standards, European standards, are elaborated and how they are revised. In Europe, paving red bitumen are specified according to the European Standard EN 12591. This specification is based on two main characteristics, Penetration and Softening point. As you might remember, those two characteristics are determined according to respectively EN 1426 and EN 1427 depth methods. This was presented in our previous video by Laurence Lapaloosh. For each grade the penetration range is defined with a minimum and a maximum value. For instance, grade 35/50 means that the penetration is above 35 tenths of a millimeter and below 50 tenths of a millimeter measured at 25 degrees Centigrade. This specification being read in column, the penetration range is associated with a range of softening points. For 35/50 grade softening point shall rate between 50 and 58 degrees. In En 12591 those two characteristic are specified on fresh binder but also on short term H binder determined by AT 40. As you know, this aging process is aimed to reproduce aging of binder in an asphalt plant during mixing with aggregate. Depending on crude oil used to produce bitumen, an hour of the distillation is operated but also on the design of the distillation column, different grades of bitumen maybe obtained from art grade 20/30 to self grade bitumen 160/220. EN12591 also specifies paving grade bitumen from 250 tenths of a millimeter. Up to 900 tenths of a millimeter. Even softer bitumen are specified according to their dynamic viscosity at 60 degrees. Those grades are used in Nordic countries. Most commonly, EN 12591 specification are plotted on a graph, penetration versus softening point, where penetration is expressed on a log scale. As you notice on the graph, there are some overlaps of pen softening point boxes. This is the outcome of the almanazation of the former national specification which led to the adoption of the EN 12591 as European standard in 2009, after several years of discussion. In EN 12591, a second set of characteristics enables to specify bitumen. Penetration index, dynamic viscosity at 60 degrees, thrust breaking point which define the susceptibility of bitumen under low temperature condition. And cinematic viscosity at 135 degrees Centigrade. While the first set of characteristic pens, softening point, flash point, and solubility up binding to characterize the bitumen using any European member states and in the country that have adopted this specification, such as Switzerland and Turkey, the second set of characteristics may or may not be required. You need to inquiry about any existing national regulation when placing the bitumen on the market and on European country. Other bituminous products now specified according to existing European standard, prepared by the same technical committee TC 336 and it's working group and adopted by the same numbers. Standards are listed in this table. Similarly to EN 12591, all the standards define a frame work of specification with some characteristic that are compulsory all over Europe and others being optional depending on the local regulations. As mentioned previously, this set of standards have been elaborated by the in charge of standardization of bituminous binder at CEN, the Committee European Normalization. That means the European Committee on Standardization. In Europe, CEN is in charge of standardization, holding approximately 500 TCs. CEN TCs work on the basis of national involvement, the number of CEN being the national standardization body such as DEN in Germany, [INAUDIBLE] in UK in Spain AFNO in France, UNI in Italy, NSI in Ireland for instance. TCs are in charge of the adoption of the standards through one or two steps ballot process but also their revision. However the real standard development is performed by experts taking part to working groups. CEN/TC specific or two different working groups, working group one deals with specification and test methods related to unmodified and modified paving bitumens, whereas working group two deals with specification and test methods related to bitumen assimilation, flats, and curve back bitumens. Among experts all involved parties are represented such as bitumen producer and users, that is expert from the road industry but also representatives from laboratories performing the test methods and regional national representatives from ministries another ways agency for instance. To summarize with the same process, specification and test methods are elaborated by experts and validated through TC, that is national standardization bodies. After a period of five years, an EN standard is submitted to a systematic review, to determine whether revision is needed or not. In conclusion, in Europe, paving grade bitumen is specified according to EN 12591 specification, unable to differentiate between the different grades of bitumen. So far EN 12591 paving grade specification is based on empirical characteristic, penetration, and softening point. Determine on fresh and age binder. Performing tests at different temperature enables to determine the stiffness of bitumen and its susceptibility with temperature. In the future, in accordance to the newly implemented regulation, CPR, Construction Product Regulation European specification should be expressed as far as possible in terms of product performance. Experts involved in working groups work on that. In the American system the existing SuperPave performance grading, so called PG is related to field performance of bitumen this will be detailed in a fourth coming video. Thank you very much for your attention. [MUSIC]
