Introduction

Sumerians and Using Babylonians and many of early civilizations were vastly using bitumen .This material was being used as anti-moisture and also as a protector for wood and for different applications such as mummification, statuary and decorations; also the existing bitumens in natural beds along with the baked bricks was being employed in temple structures , the pile of bridges, streets and houses.

The beginning of the modern bitumen industry can be attributed to (the year ) 1712 A.D.In which natural bitumen rocks were discovered in France. In that time , they were simply distributing the bituminous materials as clods on the surface of local roads and letting the traffic gradually pulverize and compact them. This technique was perfectly successful and in a short time, some enhancements were achieved in the form of powdering and heating of the materials prior to use. Then, they compact and harden asphalts via powdering and flattening using hot iron. This material which was commonly referred as “ Compressed Rock Asphalts” were used very successfully in European streets and this trend was gradually continued so that nowadays, with science and technology enhancements , bitumen has provided vast and divers e applications in different industries and is employed for different purposes such as road constructions, floor and roof coating, underground pipes , metal protectors, sealing of storage , canals, bridges, stabilization of flowing sands , painting and etc. The present training booklet is involved with a brief introduction of bitumen and its structure , different kinds of bitumens, production process of petroleum bitumen , classification and naming of bitumens as well as the most basic standard experiments.