Laboratory Evaluation on Performance of Recycled Asphalt Binder and Mixtures under Short-Term Aging Conditions

Abstract

As asphalt materials are exposed to very high temperatures before construction, such as in the transportation stage or the storage stage, short-term aging of asphalt material occurs. At these stages, diffusion or blending between RAP (reclaimed asphalt pavement) binder and virgin binder may occur. In this study, recycled blends, incorporating SBS modified binder, RAP binder and recycling agents, were prepared with incremental RAP binders of up to 40%, and RTFO (Rolling Thin-Film Oven) tests in condition times of 300 and 600 min were conducted on the recycled blends. Characterization tests included ΔTcr, complex modulus master curve, a G-R (Glover-Rowe) parameter on recycled blends, and dynamic modulus, fracture test, and midpoint bending fatigue tests on mixtures. The ΔTcr and the G-R parameter results showed that aging time significantly affected the cracking resistance of the recycled blends. Compared to the virgin SBS modified asphalt binder, the recycled blends tended to be more sensitive to the aging process. The complex modulus master curve of binders and the dynamic modulus and phase angle results of mixtures show that the binder/mixtures appear to be stiffer with an increase in the RAP binder dosage. Generally, the low temperature cracking and fatigue cracking resistance of virgin mixtures is better than that of RAP mixtures, especially for high RAP binder dosage mixtures, and longer aging times have a negative impact on the cracking resistance of mixture. However, when we extend RTFO aging time, the higher dosage of RAP mixtures show better cracking resistance than the lower dosage of RAP mixtures. The reason for this could be that the chemical process may occur between the virgin SBS modified asphalt binder and the RAP binder at high temperatures.