Recycling of waste Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) power as alternative filler for asphalt mastics

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite has the advantages of light weight, high strength and high stability and be widely used in construction engineering and aerospace engineering, which has produced a lot of waste FRP in the process of producing and using. These amount of waste FRP is difficult to be disposed to lead to a great burden on the environment due to its excellent corrosion resistance. This study aims to exploit the feasibility of recycling waste glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) power as alternative fillers for asphaltic materials. For this, asphalt mastics comprising recycled GFRP and traditional filler (limestone) were fabricated, and the various properties including rheological performance, fatigue performance and moisture damage resistance were evaluated. The results show that the high-temperature performance of GFRP asphalt mastics was better than that of limestone asphalt mastics, while no significant difference in low temperature performance was observed. The use of GFRP can also improve the rutting resistance, the fatigue performance and moisture damage resistance of asphalt mastic comparing to the asphalt mastic containing mineral fillers. The excellent performances of GFRP asphalt mastic are believed to be benefitted from the special microstructure of GFRP powder, which has smaller particle sizes and greater specific surface area than limestone. The finding from the current study demonstrates that waste GFRP has the potential of recycling as a filler alternative for asphalt mastics.