Rheological and mechanical evaluation of a novel fast curing cold asphalt concrete made with asphalt emulsion, by-products and magnetic induction

Abstract

This work studies the feasibility of a new cold asphalt concrete with 5 % voids with fast curing, developed with asphalt emulsion and magnetic induction. Until now, it was impossible to produce fast curing cold asphalt concretes due to the impossibility of compacting and evaporating the water in the asphalt emulsion quickly. Therefore, the aim of this work is to solve the impossibility of compacting the cold asphalt concrete and thus reduce the long curing times. For this purpose, at laboratory level, an experimental cold asphalt concrete was designed with magnetic induction and compared with two reference hot asphalt concretes manufactured according to Spanish standards without magnetic induction (one with 50–70 grade bitumen and another with a PMB45/80–65 type polymer-modified bitumen). The research was carried out in two stages. First, the new cold asphalt concrete was rheologically characterized, the binder recovered from the asphalt concrete was analyzed according to the tests of ring and ball, penetration, dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR). Secondly, the new cold concrete asphalt was mechanically characterized, the mechanical performance of the cold asphalt concrete was analyzed by evaluating stability and deformation, dry and wet indirect tensile strengths (ITS), wheel tracking test, stiffness modulus and resistance to raveling dry and wet conditions. Based on the rheological analysis results, the asphalt emulsion recovered from the cold asphalt concrete is extremely soft with a low softening point and a high penetration rate. On the other hand, the values of viscosity, phase angle, stiffness and non-recoverable creep compliance are between those of the bitumen 50/70 and the PMB45/80–65, but closer to bitumen 50/70. As for their mechanical performance, the novel cold asphalt concrete studied presents better resistance to water damage and particle loss, both in dry and wet conditions, but also high permanent deformations and low ITS, probably due to the fact that the residual binder of the emulsion used is softer than the others.