Abstract
To preserve the existing asphalt pavement and extend its service life, various preventive maintenance methods, such as chip seal, slurry seal, fog seal, and microsurfacing, have been commonly applied. Sand fog seal is one of such maintenance methods, which is based on the application of bitumen emulsion and sand. Thus, its performance is largely dependent on the properties of the bitumen emulsion and sand. This study aims to develop an improved sand fog seal method by using waterborne epoxy resin as an emulsion modifier. To this end, both laboratory tests and field trials were conducted. In the laboratory, the wet track abrasion and British pendulum test were performed to determine the optimum sand size for the sand fog seal, and the rubbing test was carried out to evaluate the wearing resistance of the sealing material. In the field, pavement surface regularity before and after the sand fog seal application was measured using the 3 m straightedge method, and the surface macrotexture and skid resistance were evaluated with the sand patch method and British pendulum test, respectively. The laboratory test results indicated that the optimum sand size range is 0.45–0.9 mm, and the sand fog seal with waterborne epoxy resin showed good wearing resistance and skid resistance. The field test results verified that both the pavement texture and skid resistance were substantially improved after sand fog sealing.
Highlights
Asphalt pavement suffers from a series of distresses, such as rutting and cracking, because of vehicle loading and environmental effects. ese distresses, if not treated in the early stage, can negatively affect the driving safety and pavement service life
As waterborne epoxy resin is soluble in water, it can be blended with bitumen emulsion. e epoxy starts to cure as it is in contact with hardener, and the three-dimensional chemically interconnected epoxy polymer networks can be formed inside bitumen as water in emulsion evaporates
Pavement surface regularity before and after the sand fog seal application was measured using the 3 m straightedge method, and the surface macrotexture and skid resistance were evaluated with the sand patch method and British pendulum test, respectively
Summary
Asphalt pavement suffers from a series of distresses, such as rutting and cracking, because of vehicle loading and environmental effects. ese distresses, if not treated in the early stage, can negatively affect the driving safety and pavement service life. E epoxy starts to cure as it is in contact with hardener, and the three-dimensional chemically interconnected epoxy polymer networks can be formed inside bitumen as water in emulsion evaporates. Such a polymer structure will lead to significant improvement of the bitumen mechanical properties. E objective of this research is to investigate the performance of the sand fog seal using waterborne epoxy modified bitumen emulsion as a preventive maintenance method for asphalt pavement. To achieve this object, both laboratory tests and field trials were conducted. Pavement surface regularity before and after the sand fog seal application was measured using the 3 m straightedge method, and the surface macrotexture and skid resistance were evaluated with the sand patch method and British pendulum test, respectively
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