Effect of anti-icing additives on the stability of emulsified asphalt binders

Abstract

The compatibility between anti-icing additives and emulsified asphalt binders has an important effect on the durability and stability performance of anti-icing emulsified asphalt binders. This research aims to investigate the effect of anti-icing additives on the stability performance of emulsified asphalt binders. In this study, the effect of emulsifier ion type and anti-icing additives properties (Zeta potential, fineness modulus, bulk density and content) were investigated by laboratory tests. Based on the results, it is found that the stability of the cationic emulsified asphalt binder is better than that of anionic emulsified asphalt binder after adding the anti-icing additive. For cationic emulsified asphalt binder, the stability is related to Zeta potential, and the stability time tends to increase with an increase in Zeta potential. Besides, the particle size of anti-icing additives also has an obvious effect on the stability of the emulsified asphalt binder. Based on the test results, it is not recommended to mix anti-icing additives which have small bulk density and fine particle size with cationic emulsified asphalt binder. In addition, the stability time of cationic emulsified asphalt binder decreases with an increase in additives content. These findings in this study are helpful for the application of anti-icing emulsified asphalt binders on existing asphalt pavement for the purposes of melting snow and anti-icing.