
The long-term aging of bitumen and bituminous binders obtained bya Pressure Ageing Vessel (PAV), generates air bubbles which be removed in according with EN 14769, ASTM D6521 and AASHTOR28 standards. The Vacuum Degassing Oven, (VDO) consists of astainless still vacuum vessel with a hinged lid to conserve space andaccess the vacuum chamber. It can hold 8 specimen containers.The unit allows selectable working temperature range from ambientto 200 °C with a resolution of ± 0.1 °C, measured by a platinum RTDprobe. The VDO guarantees the required operating pressure of 15 ±1 kpa for the achievement of vacuum.
The unit is equipped with a 7”colour Touch screen controller indicating: temperature and pressure in real time and current stage of eachprocess. The user-friendly software allows the operator to carry outthe test in different modes:
• AUTOMATIC:Maintains the temperature constant at 170 °C for 30minutes as required by the standards
• SEMI-AUTOMATIC:Selectable test temperature from ambient to200 °C and the test runs for 30 minutes as in automatic mode
• MANUAL:Selectable both test temperature from ambient to200 °C and time up to 99 minutes for research purposes
At the end of the test is possible to obtain uniform bitumen samplesthat can be used for further analysis to identify Performance Grade(such as DSR, DTT and BBR) or conventional bitumen properties(such as penetration, ductility, softening point among others)
