Natural Rubber Latex–Substituted Bitumen Binder for Road Construction: A Review

Natural rubber (NR) in bituminous mixes is a great innovation in the production of sustainable and quality binders for mostly road and pavement construction. This chapter reviews some studies on the feasibility of NR in bituminous mixes for road and pavement construction. The nature, properties, and uses of NR, the modification of bitumen using NR, and the effect of NR on bituminous mixes are reviewed and discussed. The review has shown that NR can be used for sustainable construction of pavements and roads. The optimum proportion of NR was reported to be 4–8% of the bituminous mixes from various studies. The increase in viscoelasticity of the resulting binder may help improve the service life of pavements while reducing maintenance costs. However, the limited number of field studies on the performance of NR-modified bitumen suggests the need for further research in this regard to determine the costeffectiveness of its use as a binder for commercial purposes. Tropical countries, which are also producers of NR and yet rely on imported bitumen for the construction of roads, could boost their domestic consumption and make some savings by incorporating NR in the bituminous mixes for the construction of asphaltic roads.