Effects of Low-Temperature Construction Additives (LCAs) on the Performance of Asphalt Mixtures

• Published in: Materials Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 677
• Main Authors: Li, Yuanyuan, Feng, Jianlin, Chen, Anqi, Wu, Fan, Wu, Shaopeng, Liu, Quantao, Gong, Ruifang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.01.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Additives; Aggregates; Asphalt mixes; Asphalt pavements; Crack propagation; Emissions; Emissions control; Energy consumption; Epoxy resins; Fatigue failure; Fatigue strength; High temperature; Low temperature; Low temperature resistance; low-temperature construction additive; Mechanical properties; mixture performance; modification mechanism; Pavement construction; Performance evaluation; preparation method; Research methodology; Stability analysis; Viscosity; volumetric properties; Workability; China; modification mechanism; preparation method; mixture performance; volumetric properties; low-temperature construction additive
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma15020677

Green production of asphalt materials is very important to promote energy savings and emission reduction during the construction and maintenance of asphalt pavement. A low-temperature construction additive (LCA) made from the waste plastic and waste rubber is proposed, which belongs to a class of environmentally friendly additives for asphalt mixtures. Marshall stability was tested to evaluate the mechanical performance of LCA-modified asphalt mixtures (LCA-AMs). In order to determine the best preparation parameters of LCA-AMs, the influence of the content and LCA addition method on the strength of LCA-AMs was studied. In addition, the impact of epoxy resin (ER) on the mixtures' performances was evaluated. The results show that the LCA can significantly reduce the formation temperature of asphalt mixtures, and the resulting asphalt mixtures have good workability in a lower temperature range (90-110 °C). The ER should be added to the LCA-AMs after 4 h of curing. All the volumetric properties satisfy the technical requirements. The low-temperature crack resistance and fatigue resistance of LCA-AMs were obviously improved with appropriate dosages of ER, which can effectively improve the mechanical performance of the asphalt mixtures. The ER can significantly increase the rutting resistance and water sensitivity of LCA-AMs, therefore making it feasible to improve the mixture performance by the enhancement provided by a low dosage of ER.