ABSTRACT
Admixture of polymer to binders intended for road application is not a new phenomenon. As early as 1823, an English cork manufacturer was granted a patent for a binder containing natural rubber (Hancock, 1823). After the Second World War, synthetic polymer began to compete with natural rubber as an additive in road bitumen. Based on the number of publications on polymer modified bitumen (PMB) and asphalt (PMA), Zenke (1985) showed that interest in synthetic polymers soon exceeded that in natural polymers. By 1982, as many as 1,100 papers on PMB and PMA had been published (Zenke, 1985). As has already been indicated, there is still growing research interest in this area.
