Induced heating-healing characterization of activated carbon modified asphalt concrete under microwave radiation

Abstract

This research investigates the crack healing ability of activated carbon (AC) modified asphalt concrete through microwave radiation. As a binder-based conductive additive, AC is expected to increase the electro-magnetic radiation absorption of asphalt binder. To verify this issue, neat and modified binders with different contents of AC were exposed to microwave radiation. It was found that the temperature of AC modified binder increased considerably after microwave heating compared to that of the neat binder. This observation can be regarded as a driving force to use AC in asphalt for the healing purposes. Moreover, statistical analysis of testing results showed that the AC modification did not have any detrimental effect on the asphalt performance. For further evaluation of the healing ability of AC modified asphalt, cycles of breaking and healing were applied to a number of semicircular bending (SCB) and indirect tensile (IDT) testing samples. Notch length, damage level (number of breaking-healing cycle), and aggregate source were found to have significant effects on the induced healing efficiency. The obtained results confirmed that AC is a potentially viable and robust binder-based conductive component for induced heating and healing of asphalt concrete.