Recycling of polymer modified bituminous mixes with reclaimed asphalt pavement – An experimental study

Abstract

Recycling is an attempt to effectively utilize the used material to manufacture new material of acceptable or if possible superior quality materials. Recycling promotes resource preservation, energy efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing. Recycling can be effectively applied for bituminous pavements. The scarified bituminous material from the surface course can be mixed with fresh aggregates and/or fresh binder to relay new pavements performing the same function as in the original application. Thus scarified bituminous material, which is milled from asphalt surface is recycled in hot mix asphalt. Hot mix recycling has shown to be an effective method due to its low cost and capacity to produce mix of a high calibre. Thus, reclaimed asphalt pavement recycling is necessary for use for technical, economical, and environmental reasons. The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of hot asphalt mixtures using recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). Bituminous material that had been scarified was obtained for the current investigation from a national highway in Belagavi, India. It was discovered that the project location has a BC-II and PMB-40 gradation. The site-recycled material underwent a bitumen extraction test to determine its gradation and binder concentration. In the current laboratory experiment, four different sorts of mixes were created and put to the test. New bituminous mixes were made using the BC-II gradation. Two mixes were proportioned, and recycled materials were used to partially replace the coarse and fine aggregates in the BC-II mix, respectively. The mixes were produced using the Marshall approach and the MS-2 criterion. The mixes were investigated in terms of their Marshall properties, moisture susceptibility through ITS & TSR tests. The recycled mix when combined with fresh aggregates and binder to compensate for loss in gradation and ageing of binder respectively results in a mix of properties similar and even better than fresh bituminous mix.