Investigating the Effect of Hydrophobic Additives in Moisture Damage Reduction of Asphalt Mixtures

In order to increase the life of the asphalt mixture and reduce the cost of the pavement life cycle, methods must be provided to improve the quality. Accordingly, the effects of aggregate surface coating with hydrophobic material in order to modify the aggregate mixture’s polar properties and reduce its hydrophilic properties are investigated. To this end, limestone and granite aggregates, 60-70 bitumen, and Two types of additives were used as the primary materials for the construction of asphalt mixtures. Thermodynamic concepts with cyclic loading have been used to evaluate the effects of these additives. The results obtained in this study indicate that the hydrophobic coating on the aggregate surface has increased the acidic components and decreased the alkaline components of the surface free energy for both types of aggregates. These changes will increase the bitumen-aggregate adhesion and make a better coating of bitumen on the aggregate surface. The results based on thermodynamic concepts suggest that the aggregate surface coating has reduced the system’s separation energy and the desire for stripping. The results of the dynamic modulus in wet to dry conditions also approve this outcome. The combination of thermodynamic concepts and the cyclic loading results show that the coating on the aggregate surface has reduced the aggregate’s stripping from bitumen. It is also obvious that the samples made with granite aggregates, which have acidic properties, are prone to moisture damage and have a higher tendency to strip

Investigating the Effect of Modifying Aggregate Surface by Micronized Calcium Carbonate on Increasing the Moisture Resistance of Asphalt Mixtures

The adhesion between aggregate and asphalt binder in dry conditions, and the amount of its reduction in wet conditions are amongst fundamental indicators that moisture sensitivity amount of asphalt mixtures is dependent to. Among different methods to increase adhesion, modification of aggregates surface with anti-stripping materials is known as an effective method. Therefore, the effect of covering aggregates surface with micronized calcium carbonate as a proper and inexpensive anti-stripping material was investigated. Accordingly, in order to evaluate mixes, first, mechanical methods were used, and then thermodynamic methods were employed to determine the mechanism of the effect of calcium carbonate on increasing asphalt mix resistance to moisture damage. In order to conduct this research, three types of aggregates including limestone, granite, and quartzite, for their different degrees of hydrophilic, and two types of asphalt binder 60–70 and 85–100 were used to produce mixtures. Results obtained by mechanical methods show that modification of aggregates surface causes an increase in the tensile strength ratio (TSR) in the samples made by both two types of asphalt binder. In addition, results of surface free energy method indicate the increase of adhesion energy (except in granite samples) and reduction of debonding energy in all modified samples. Generally, evaluations conducted by the use of both methods show that covering aggregates by micronized calcium carbonate has a positive effect on reducing moisture sensitivity of asphalt mixes

Providing Laboratory Rutting Models for Modified Asphalt Mixes with Different Waste Materials

Due to the complex behavior of asphalt pavement materials under various loading conditions, pavement structure, and environmental conditions, accurately predicting the permanent deformation of asphalt pavement is difficult. This study discusses the application of artificial neural network (ANN) and the multiple linear regression (MLR) in predicting permanent deformation of asphalt concrete mixtures modified by waste materials (waste plastic bottles and waste high-density polyethylene). The use of waste materials in the pavement industry can prevent the accumulation of waste material and environmental pollution and can reduce primary production costs. The results of a laboratory study evaluating the rutting properties of Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixtures using dynamic creep tests were investigated. The results indicate ANN techniques are more effective in predicting the rutting of the modified mixtures tested in this study than the traditional statistical-based prediction models. On the other hand, results show that an increase in percentage of waste materials is very effective in reducing the final strain of asphalt mixtures. However, an increase in percentage of additives over 7% does not help to reduce permanent deformation under dynamic loading in the asphalt mixtures

Effects of Asphalt Binder Modifying with Polypropylene on Moisture Susceptibility of Asphalt Mixtures with Thermodynamically Concepts

In this study, the effect of using Polypropylene (PP) as an antistripping additive of asphalt mixtures is investigated. Here, the moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures is evaluated by determining the micro-mechanisms using the surface free energy (SFE) concept. The adhesion bond between the aggregate and asphalt binder and the cohesion strength of the asphalt binder are considered as the main factors that affect moisture damage of asphalt mixtures. Test results indicate that the use of PP improves the resistance of asphalt mixtures in both wet and dry conditions. Also, the results of the SFE tests showed that the modifying asphalt binder with PP increases free energy of adhesion that will improve adhesion resistance between asphalt binder-aggregates. The amount of debonding energy in the samples which are modified with PP is lower than the control samples. This shows that by modifying asphalt binders, the tendency of asphalt binder-aggregate stripping can be reduced. The results show the total SFE of the asphalt binders of the modified samples have more free energy rather than the control samples. This phenomenon shows that failure in the asphalt binder film and cohesion failure will be happened more rarely

An Experimental Investigation into the Effect of Asphalt Binder Modified with SBR Polymer on the Moisture Susceptibility of Asphalt Mixtures

There are several experimental methods for improving the moisture strength of asphalt mixtures. Utilization of anti-stripping materials is the most prevalent method. In the present paper, the influence of polymer materials on asphalt binder was investigated using repetitive loading test in wet and dry conditions along with thermodynamic parameters based on the Surface Free Energy components of asphalt binder and aggregates. The results obtained from the present study indicated that using Styrene Butadiene Rubber polymer has improved the asphalt mixtures strength against the moisture damage, especially in the specimens made of granite aggregates. Also, Styrene Butadiene Rubber polymer increased the cohesion free energy and reduced the energy released by the system during the stripping event, which represented a decrease in the tendency for stripping. The stripping percentage index, which is obtained by a combination of the results of the repetitive loading test in wet and dry conditions along with the results of thermodynamic parameters, represented that the specimens made of controlled asphalt binder in the loading cycles under wet conditions had a higher stripping rate. It was also concluded that the modulus loss rate in the control asphalt mixtures was faster than the modified specimens

Investigating the Effect of Curing and Thermal Equilibrium Time on Rutting Potential of Hot Mix Asphalt

Rutting is a common damage of flexible pavements, reducing the service life of asphalt pavement. Due to laboratory limitations, asphalt mixtures are subjected to different curing times (since construction until placement in the test chamber) and thermal equilibrium times (since placement in the test chamber until the beginning of the test) before rutting tests. Neglecting these factors can lead to errors in the laboratory results. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of curing times of 1, 2, and 3 days at 25ºC and thermal equilibrium times of 2, 4, and 6 hours on the rutting potential of different hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures. Results of rutting tests showed that the rutting potential of asphalt mixtures decreases by increasing the curing time, while the permanent deformation at the end of loading cycles and rutting potential increase by increasing the thermal equilibrium time. Additionally, the results of statistical analyses revealed that curing time and thermal equilibrium time change the rutting potential of asphalt mixtures

Investigating the Effect of Using Waste Ultra-high-molecular-weight Polyethylene on the Fatigue Life of Asphalt Mixture

One of the effective parameters in the occurrence of fatigue cracking distress is the asphalt binder properties used, which must be controlled by appropriate asphalt binder or additives. In this study, the effect of using Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) was investigated on the fatigue cracking potential of asphalt mixtures. Two types of aggregates, asphalt binder performance grade (PG) 64-16, and UHMWPE additive in two percent of the asphalt binder were used in this study, which were tested at two temperatures and five different stress levels. Marshall mix design and indirect tensile fatigue test (ITFT) were used to determine the optimum content of the asphalt binder and the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures, respectively. The results of this study indicated that the application of polymer additives increased the fatigue life of the asphalt mixtures. The fatigue life of specimens made with granite aggregates was longer than those made with limestone aggregates, and the increased life due to the use of UHMWPE was longer in samples made with granite aggregates. As expected, increasing in temperature and stress levels reduced the fatigue life of the asphalt mixtures. This decrease was much lower in samples made of asphalt binder modified with polymeric materials than in control samples

Investigating the Effect of Metal Nanomaterials on the Moisture Sensitivity Process of Asphalt Mixes

One of the most common damages in asphalt mixes is the destructive effect of moisture on the binder cohesion and binder–aggregate adhesion which is called moisture damage. There are various methods to improve adhesion and reduce moisture damage in asphalt mixes. The most common of them is using an appropriate additive for binder modification. Accordingly, the current research was conducted to investigate the effect of two nanomaterials (Nano CuO, and Nano SnO2) in 2 different percentages on 2 types of aggregates (granite and limestone) and a type of base binder. In order to investigate the effect of nanomaterials, indirect tensile cyclic loading (the same as resilient modulus test) in dry and wet conditions and surface free energy (SFE) method were used. The moisture sensitivity indicator which shows stripping percentage of aggregate surface in loading cycles using SFE results and indirect tensile cyclic loading, has been considered as the moisture sensitivity indicator in this research. Results of mechanical tests used in this research show that nanomaterials have significantly increased asphalt mixes strength in comparison to control specimens. Results obtained from SFE method show that nanomaterials increase the cohesion free energy; this change causes a reduction in the possibility of failure in binder membrane. Additionally, nanoparticles have increased and reduced basic component and acidic component of SFE, respectively. This leads to improvement of their adhesion with acidic aggregates, which is sensitive to moisture damage