Investigating the Cracking Resistance of Asphalt Binder in the UAE using Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Polymer

Abstract

This research work focuses on investigating the fatigue and thermal cracking resistance of asphalt binder with different percentages of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) utilizing rheological testing methods. The laboratory experimental program includes the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) test at intermediate temperature for fatigue cracking and Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) at low temperature to assess thermal cracking. The polymer-modified asphalt binders were prepared using four different SBS contents of 2.5, 4.2, 4.8, and 6.1% by asphalt binder weight. The test results were then used to compare the performance of four different SBS modified binders and the control asphalt binder without SBS. The findings showed that the addition of the SBS to asphalt binder improved the fatigue resistance as it was noted that the fatigue parameter (G*.sin δ) was decreasing as the temperature decreases. The BBR results also showed that the addition of SBS enhanced the low-temperature performance by lowing the creep stiffness and increasing the m-values compared to the control asphalt binder. The best performance against fatigue cracking and thermal cracking was obtained using 6.1% SBS.