Malaysia is having rapid economic development in recent years, and this has placed high performance demand on its highway infrastructure. The increased in number of traffic has led to severe pavement deterioration. Due to this, better and stronger pavement materials are needed in order to cater the increasing number of axle loading. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) which comes from the ash of burning mesocarp of the palm oil fruitlets has been used as a modifier to improve the properties of bitumen. POFA is a biomass that had pozzolanic properties (siliceous material). By using POFA in bitumen, it will promote sustainability and lesser landfill to dump this waste. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of grinding period of POFA and different percentage of POFA towards physical properties of modified bitumen. A few sets of samples of POFA modified bitumen at different grinding time and POFA content have been prepared and tested with penetration test and softening point test. The microstructural characteristics of POFA were also investigated by using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). From the result, it shows that grinding time and POFA content does not influence the physical performance of the bitumen. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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