Fractional Viscoelastic Study of Low-Temperature Characteristics of Biomodified Asphalt Binders

Abstract

AbstractLow-temperature cracking in pavement is a common distress in cold regions especially in North America; such distresses are shown to be highly related to binder low-temperature properties. To reduce the low-temperature cracking, several state departments of transportation are requiring the use of polymer-modified asphalt. However, polymer modification tends to be costly and in some cases led to phase separation in asphalt. Therefore, the current paper implements a fractional viscoelastic approach to study the effectiveness of several bio-based modifiers on improving asphalt binder’s low-temperature characteristics. As such, implementing the bending beam rheometer (BBR) test, low-temperature rheological characteristics of asphalt binders, which are modified by four different bio-oils including biobinder from swine manure, corn stover, wood pellet, and miscanthus pellet are investigated. For this purpose, the BBR test was performed on asphalt binder samples containing 10% modifier at three temperatur...