Effect of alkali-treated bamboo fibers on the properties of asphalt mixture

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bamboo fiber is a natural fiber that is ecologically beneficial and one of the best materials to replace lignin fiber for roads, which is still difficult to utilize properly in asphalt mixtures owing to its poor adherence, dispersion, and hydrophilicity. Previous research has discovered that alkali treatment, as an effective treatment approach, may effectively lower the hydrophilicity of plant fibers and improve their compatibility with the matrix. As a result, it is vital to investigate the effect of alkali treatment on bamboo fibers used in asphalt mixtures. The composition and microstructure of bamboo fibers treated with alkali were investigated using SEM and FTIR methods, while the adhesion between the bamboo fiber and asphalt before and after alkali treatment was tested using the fiber pull-out test. In addition, the dispersion rate of bamboo fibers in asphalt mixture was determined by developing a connection equation using the Schellenberg binder drainage test. The performance of bamboo fiber asphalt mixtures was then evaluated using rutting tests, beam bending tests, immersion Marshall tests, freeze-thaw splitting tests, and cyclic fatigue testing. The results showed that the alkali treatment successfully eliminated impurities in the outer layer of the bamboo fibers and reduced their hydrophilicity, which enhanced the asphalt-bamboo fiber interactions as well as the asphalt mixture’s water damage resistance, specifically manifested as the residual stability of ABM was enhanced by 7.8% and the splitting tensile strength of ABM was raised by 12.2%. Furthermore, the surface polarity of the bamboo fibers was reduced, which weakened the agglomeration phenomenon and increases the dispersion rate of bamboo fibers in the mixture by 9%, efficiently improving the low-temperature cracking resistance and fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures.