Automatic electromechanical Bending Beam Rheometer for Asphalt Binder Testing

The Bending Beam Rheometer BBR test provides a measure of low temperature stiffness and relaxation properties of asphalt binders. These parameters give an indication of an asphalt binder’s ability to resist low temperature cracking.

The AutoBBR is engineered to perform flexural tests on asphalt binder and similar specimens per ASTM D6648, AASHTO T313/TP125 and EN 14771. These tests consist of a constant force being applied to a specimen in a chilled bath in order to derive specific rates of deformation at various temperatures.

AutoBBR basically consists of:

• A three-point bending test apparatus, easily lifted from the base unit by motorized system, for easy specimen removal, calibration and maintenance operations.
• A 7” color touchscreen controller, inbuilt in the machine base, displaying load/displacement and temperature data and graphs, able to automatically perform the required standard or user programmable testing procedures.
• A linear electromechanical actuator able to deliver the required load with high precision.
• Low temperature fluid bath, inbuilt in the machine base.
• An external chiller unit for the water-cooled thermoelectric temperature control system

A fully automatic systemAutoBBR can automatically perform standard test or customized tests. From the integrated controller, it is possible to set both load values and times for pre-load, test and recovery phases. The user language can be chosen from a set of preset languages, including English, Italian and Chinese. Test data, including load, deformation and temperatures are displayed in real-time, together with relevant graphs. Test results can be saved into the large internal memory or saved on USB pendrive as CSV data or PDF test certificate.

Easy to calibrate
All verifications can be easily performed by the operator. The load cell is not temperature affected and the displacement measurement is compensated with regards to load cell deformation. Load cell verification can be automatically performed with dedicated procedure, and an external verification load cell is included with AutoBBR. It also includes a reference metal beam for displacement verification. The safety is granted by an emergency switch, and by safety buttons for AutoBBR assembly movement.