Ever increasing traffic intensities, higher axle loads, increased tire pressures and unfavourable wheel configurations result in increasing deterioration of asphalt pavements. Deterioration that manifests in form of ravelling, rutting, surface cracking, fatigue and reflective cracking will result in dangerous traffic conditions, shorter lifetime and higher maintenance frequencies. By improving the asphalt mixture properties, the lifetime of the pavement will be extended.

Modified bitumen in general has been successfully used for more than 40 years with an aim to extend the use of bituminous mixes beyond the limitations imposed by the temperature susceptibility of bitumen.

Several bitumen modifiers have been developed, with most of them offering an improvement to a certain degree in the pavement performance. Some modifiers increase the asphalt stiffness, thus the pavement’s load-bearing capacity, but these binders usually have reduced fatigue resistance. SBS modifiers improve the fatigue properties to some extent better than other modifiers, but at the cost of stiffness. Consequently, most modified binders achieve the desired improvement, but usually at the cost of other properties. The best results can be obtained by incorporating specific polymers to the bitumen.