Abstract
The absence of studies investigating the influence of waste Polystyrene (PS) on the performance characteristics of rutting resistance and fatigue cracking resistance of the indigenous asphaltic materials Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA) and Trinidad Petroleum Bitumen (TPB), has hindered the possible use of PS as a performance enhancer as observed with other asphalts from different sources thus also developing a sustainable approach for the disposal of PS. The influence of PS on TLA and TPB was investigated by measuring the rheological properties of complex modulus (G*) and phase angle (δ) of prepared blends and calculating the fatigue cracking resistance and rutting resistance parameters (G*sin δ and G*/sin δ respectively). The addition of PS to TLA resulted in an increase in the fatigue cracking resistance as well as the rutting resistance compared to the pure TPB binder. Despite having improvements in rutting resistance due to PS addition, the fatigue cracking resistance of the TPB parent binders were superior compared with the PS modified TPB blends. The incremental increase in temperatures for TPB and TLA based blends resulted in gradual improvements in their fatigue cracking resistances but gradual deterioration in the rutting resistance of the modified blends. The conclusions were identical for both the Research Program Super pave specification and the Strategic Highway Research Program specifications. There is strong rheological evidence of the possibility to utilize waste PS as an asphalt performance enhancer for both TLA and TPB thus creating a sustainable strategy for the reuse of waste PS.
Highlights
Asphalt is considered a viscoelastic material; they behave partly like an elastic solid and partly like a viscous liquid which exhibits brittle and hard properties in cold environments and is relatively soft in hot environments
The black curves obtained in this study for the Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA) and Trinidad Petroleum Bitumen (TPB) asphaltic binders due to the addition of PS at a frequency of 1.59 Hz at a temperature of 60°C using the Asphalt Research Program Superpave specification are shown in Fig. 9 and 10
The addition of PS to TLA resulted in an increase in the fatigue cracking resistance as well as the rutting resistance compared to the pure TPB binder
Summary
Asphalt is considered a viscoelastic material; they behave partly like an elastic solid (recoverable deformation after loading) and partly like a viscous liquid (non-recoverable deformation after loading) which exhibits brittle and hard properties in cold environments and is relatively soft in hot environments. It is currently still the most utilized material used in road pavements worldwide its shortcomings have been characterized mainly by high temperature fatigue cracking and rutting (or permanent deformation) at high temperature, resulting in a deterioration of the performance qualities of the material (Bahia et al, 1998; Yu et al, 2009). The improvement in service life and performance of road pavements has received much research attention as it offers significant economic value and any modifications of asphaltic blends are designed mainly to increase the pavement service lifespan and performance of the asphalt pavement (Sienkiewicz et al, 2012)
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