Abstract
To clarify the influence of fiber type on the long-term performance of stone mastic asphalt (SMA), this paper used basalt fiber (BF) and lignin fiber (LF) to modify SMA-13 (SMA with aggregate nominal maximum particle size of 13.2 mm) asphalt mixture. The pavement performances (high-temperature performance, cracking resistance at low and medium temperature, and water stability) of the two kinds of fiber-reinforced SMA-13 were checked under different aging degrees (unaged, short-term aged and long-term aged), scanning electron microscope (SEM) test was conducted to explain the strengthening mechanism of the fibers. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) was used to analyze the changes in the chemical composition of asphalt after aging. The results of the wheel tracking test and uniaxial penetration test showed that the high-temperature performance of the BFSMA-13 (defined as the SMA-13 containing BF) is better than that of the LFSMA-13 (defined as the SMA-13 containing LF) at different aging degrees. The high-temperature performance of BFSMA-13 increases with the increase of the aging degree, while the aging process decreases the high-temperature property of LFSMA-13. The results of the three-point bending test and semi-circular bending (SCB) proved that BFSMA-13 is more capable of deformation and less prone to cracking at low and medium temperatures. The results of the immersion Marshal test indicated that BF can better improve the strength and the water stability of the SMA-13 mixture than LF. The SEM images showed that basalt fibers form a solid three-dimensional network structure in the mixture which could contribute to the strengthening of the mixture. The results of infrared spectroscopy analysis showed that styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) degrades during asphalt mixture aging, and that the chemical composition of asphalt changes more after aging in LFSMA-13 than in BFSMA-13. The conclusions of this study help toward further understanding of the performance changes of the SMA-13 mixture during its service life and to guide the selection of fiber additives for SMA-13 mixtures.
Highlights
Stone mastic asphalt (SMA) [1,2] has been widely used in the construction of highways because of its excellent engineering performances
We found that lignin fiber and high-temperature performance of the asphalt mixtures
We found that lignin fiber and basalt basaltfiber fiberplay playdifferent different roles roles in in the the asphalt asphalt mixture
Summary
Stone mastic asphalt (SMA) [1,2] has been widely used in the construction of highways because of its excellent engineering performances. SMA has a high coarse aggregate content that interlocks to form a stone skeleton that resists permanent deformation. The stone skeleton is filled with a mastic of bitumen and filler. It has more stone-on-stone contact and asphalt content than conventional dense graded asphalt mixtures [1,2]. Researchers hope to further improve the performance of SMA pavement by using various additives [5,6,7], in which high-quality fiber is an important one
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