LABORATORY EVALUATION OF LAWELE BUTON NATURAL ASPHALT IN ASPHALT CONCRETE MIXTURE

The huge deposit of natural asphalt in Lawele of Buton Island, in the Province of South East of Sulawesi, has not been fully utilized for asphalt concrete mixtures. This paper describes the evaluation of the characteristics of asphalt concrete mixtures containing Lawele natural asphalt and compare to those normally used Kabungka natural asphalt. The type of gradations used are AC WC-2 with two different gradations, i.e. above the Fuller curve and crossing the Fuller curve between No. 4 and No. 8 sieves. 10% by weight of Lawele natural asphalt was selected to substitute the aggregates in the mixtures and pen 60/70 grade asphalt was also used. At optimum binder content, the mixtures resistance against water and temperature, resilient modulus and permanent deformation were evaluated. The performance of mixtures satisfied the requirements and shows better performance than those mixtures containing Kabungka natural asphalt.