Low- and intermediate-temperature behaviour of polymer-modified asphalt binders, mastics, fine aggregate matrices, and mixtures with Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement material

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The long-term effects of SBS-modified binders and rejuvenators on the properties of high-RAP mixtures, especially the cracking resistance, have not been resolved. Therefore, this paper evaluates the cracking resistance of polymer-modified asphalt binders, mastics, fine aggregate matrices (FAMs) and mixtures containing RAP material and a rejuvenator. A series of laboratory tests is performed on different asphalt material scales, including a frequency sweep test; a BBR test for asphalt binders, mastics and FAM mixes; and a dynamic modulus test and the Illinois flexibility index test for asphalt mixtures. Short-term ageing and long-term ageing are also considered for different asphalt material scales. The results show that the asphalt binders and mixes containing RAP materials have similar Glover-Rowe (G-R) values and flexibility index (FI) values to those of the virgin binders and mixtures that are only subjected to short-term ageing. These results indicate that a rejuvenator can partially decrease the stiffness of the RAP material before long-term ageing; however, the cracking resistance of asphalt materials obviously decreases after long-term ageing. Asphalt materials containing RAP are more susceptible than virgin asphalt material to thermal cracking, and the rejuvenator does not improve the long-term cracking resistance of high-RAP material. The correlations between different laboratory ageing conditions for the asphalt binder, mastic, FAM and mixture are analysed. Binders subjected to PAV 20 h ageing present rheological properties equivalent to those of mixes subjected to the long-term oven ageing (LTOA) protocol for 5 d at 85°C. Binders subjected to PAV 40 h ageing present rheological properties equivalent to those of loose mixtures subjected to the LTOA protocol for 12 h at 135°C. The cracking resistance parameters of the binders, mastics and FAMs are also compared with the cracking resistance parameters of the mixture, and the results illustrate that the G-R parameters of asphalt binder, mastic and FAM are well correlated with the G-R parameter and FI parameter of the mixture. Moreover, the G-R parameter can predict the cracking performance of the asphalt mixture.