THE SUITABILITY OF PERIWINKLE SHELL DUST AS MINERAL FILLER IN ASPHALT MIXTURE

Abstract: Abstract
The suitability of Periwinkle shell dust, from periwinkle snail, a small gastropod sea snail Tympanutonos fuscatus, as mineral filler in asphalt mixture was investigated. Laboratory tests such as chemical constituent analysis, sieve analysis, specific gravity and plasticity index of the periwinkle shell dust was conducted. Also, chemical constituent, sieve analysis, specific gravity and plasticity index of quarry dust (as control) was conducted. Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) was designed and briquettes were prepared using 100% quarry dust (control), percentage variations of quarry dust and periwinkle shell dust and finally 100% periwinkle shell dust. Marshall Method for asphalt mix design was used and Tests for stability and flow was conducted for all briquettes. Choosing a design air void content of 4.0%, the stability of control asphalt (100% quarry dust) gave 7.84kN and stability of periwinkle asphalt (100% periwinkle shell dust) gave 6.93kN as against 3.5kN as minimum requirement in standard specification for roads and bridges. A flow of 2.88mm was recorded for control asphalt while a flow of 2.46mm was recorded for periwinkle asphalt. Void in mineral aggregate for control asphalt was found to be 17.81% and that of the periwinkle asphalt was found to be 18.64%. Void filled with bitumen for control asphalt was found to be 78.4% and that of periwinkle asphalt was found to be 76.23%. Higher stability of 8.02kN was recorded at a variation of 90% quarry dust and 10% periwinkle dust. Compressive strength of periwinkle asphalt concrete increased with increasing inclusion of quarry dust. From this study, it can be concluded that periwinkle shell dust can be used 100% as mineral filler in asphalt mixture as well as in variations with quarry dust.