A study of the mixing of cement and emulsified asphalt mortar

Abstract

Cement and emulsified asphalt (CA) mortar is a compound of cement, emulsified asphalt, sand, water and admixtures that is widely used in high-speed railway applications in China, Germany and Japan. Mixing to disperse the components and entrain air is very important in the production of CA mortar. In the study reported in this paper, the power consumption method was used to study the mixing kinetics of CA mortar. The theory of air entrainment was used to interpret the effects of mixing speed, fluidity and mixing time on the air content of the mortar. Based on the changes in power consumption, the results showed that the evolution of the paste during mixing can be divided into seven periods and, based on fluctuations of the power consumption, the evolution can be divided into three homogenisation zones. Exponential formulae are proposed to describe the effect of mixing time on air content. The experimental results agreed well with the formulae.