Laboratory performance evaluation of waste tire rubber (WTR) and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)-modified asphalt mixtures

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the performance and economy of asphalt mixture with waste tire rubber (WTR)/ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) compound-modified asphalt. In this paper, five kinds of WTR/EVA asphalt mixture were selected as research targets, 70# base asphalt mixture and 5% styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) asphalt mixture were compared. Laboratory test results showed that WTR and EVA could significantly improve the performance of the asphalt mixture. The rutting resistance and anti-ageing ability of 15%WTR + 4%EVA asphalt mixture were superior to the 5% SBS asphalt mixture, and the anti-cracking ability and water stability were extremely close between them. Furthermore, the analysis of variance results revealed that WTR and EVA had a significant effect on asphalt mixture performance, the effect of EVA was more obvious than WTR. According to the economy analysis, the application of WTR/EVA-modified asphalt could significantly reduce construction costs, the material cost of 15%WTR + 4%EVA asphalt mixture was about 9.3% lower than 5% SBS asphalt mixture. As summarised above, WTR/EVA compound-modified asphalt mixture was an economical and environmentally pavement construction material due to its superior performance and lower cost, and 15%WTR + 4%EVA was the optimal combination dosage for asphalt mixture.