Abstract
Abstract The majority of discarded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites worldwide are dumped as waste in landfills, entailing major environmental concerns. Recycling and reusing these discarded FRP composites remain a big challenge. In this work, a possible method for using the recycled glass fiber chips (GFC) as a reinforcement material for bitumen used in pavement is proposed to solve this issue. For this purpose, GFC with different lengths and diameters were chosen and dispersed evenly into bitumen with three mass contents. To gain a throughout understanding of the reinforcement effect of GFC in bitumen, a range of basic properties, such as the high-temperature performance, low-temperature performance and water resistance, were thoroughly investigated by the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) test, bending beam rheometer (BBR) test, single-edge notched beam (SENB) test and surface free energy (SFE) test. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of reinforcement through the addition of GFC was revealed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is interesting that GFC can not only significantly improve the high-temperature performance of bitumen, such as the stiffness, rutting resistance, and creep and recovery behaviors, but also inhibits low-temperature cracking and improve the water resistance of asphalt mixture. These results are attributed to the stable three-dimensional structure created by the network of GFC in the bitumen. The GFC also enhances the material behavior through a bridging function and the specific pull-out behavior. The optimal geometry of GFC as a reinforcement additive was determined to be a diameter of 0.5–0.71 mm and a length of 10–12 mm, the optimal mass content was found to be 5% from this study. Based on the present investigation, it is highly recommended to use the recycled GFC as a reinforcement material in bitumen in both high- and low-temperature regions. Besides, the application of the recycled GFC can reduce the environmental footprint as well as costs.
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