{"id":4659,"date":"2026-06-23T17:51:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/bitumen-penetration-test-astm-d5\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:51:34","slug":"bitumen-penetration-test-astm-d5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/bitumen-penetration-test-astm-d5\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitumen Penetration Test (ASTM D5): Method, Apparatus &#038; Grades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>bitumen penetration test<\/strong> classifies the hardness, or consistency, of bituminous binders and is the basis of the traditional penetration-grade system (e.g. 60\/70, 80\/100).<\/p>\n<h2>What the Test Measures<\/h2>\n<p>Penetration is the depth, in tenths of a millimetre, that a standard needle penetrates a bitumen sample under a load of 100 g for 5 seconds at 25\u00b0C. A higher penetration means a softer binder.<\/p>\n<h2>Apparatus Required<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Penetrometer with standard needle and 100 g load assembly<\/li>\n<li>Sample containers and a controlled water bath at 25\u00b0C<\/li>\n<li>Timer (or automatic timing) and transfer dish<\/li>\n<li>Thermometer for bath control<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NL Scientific manufactures the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/product\/advance-digital-penetrometer\/\">Advance Digital Penetrometer<\/a> and the full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/product-category\/bitumen-asphalt\/\">bitumen &#038; asphalt testing range<\/a>, built to ASTM, EN, BS and AASHTO requirements with ISO\/IEC 17025 accredited calibration.<\/p>\n<h2>Test Procedure<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat and pour the bitumen into the container and allow it to cool to 25\u00b0C.<\/li>\n<li>Condition the sample in the 25\u00b0C water bath.<\/li>\n<li>Position the needle to just touch the surface and zero the dial.<\/li>\n<li>Release the needle for exactly 5 seconds under the 100 g load.<\/li>\n<li>Record the penetration and repeat at three points at least 10 mm apart.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Calculation &amp; Reporting<\/h2>\n<p>Report the <strong>penetration<\/strong> as the mean of three readings in units of 0.1 mm. The value defines the penetration grade of the binder.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptance Criteria<\/h2>\n<p>The result must fall within the range for the specified grade (for example 60\u201370 for a 60\/70 binder). Out-of-range values indicate the wrong grade or an aged\/contaminated sample.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Why are the conditions fixed at 100 g, 5 s, 25\u00b0C?<\/h3>\n<p>Penetration is highly temperature- and load-sensitive, so the standard fixes these conditions to make results comparable worldwide.<\/p>\n<h3>How does penetration relate to softening point?<\/h3>\n<p>Together with the ring-and-ball softening point, penetration defines a binder&#8217;s temperature susceptibility (penetration index). Both are routine binder QC tests.<\/p>\n<p><em>Need the right equipment for your laboratory?<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/contact-us\/\">Contact NL Scientific for a quotation<\/a> &mdash; Asia&#8217;s leading manufacturer of civil engineering and material testing equipment, shipping worldwide.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bitumen penetration test to ASTM D5: apparatus, standard conditions, penetration grades and interpretation of bitumen hardness.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlscientific.com\/en_ph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}