Sugarcane bagasse fiber – An eco-friendly pavement of SMA

Abstract

The drawback of conventional Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) is an occurrence of excessive binder drain down due to the designation of SMA that has gap-graded bituminous mixtures. Stabilizing additive such as fibre in SMA mixtures can prevent excessive binder drain down. In order to prevent excessive binder drain down, sugarcane bagasse fibre was utilized in this study. The utilization of this fibre can also reduce the excessive volume of agricultural solid waste. Application of Marshall Mix Design method by using 50 blows compaction standard to produce the SMA mixture was used in this study. Range of bitumen content from 5 percent to 7 percent (at an increment of 0.5 percent) and about 1.3 percent sugarcane bagasse fibre by total weight of SMA mixtures is added to determine Optimum Bitumen Content (OBC). The finding of OBC is 5.98 percent which resulted to 0.02 percent of binder drainage. Rut depth obtained for SMA Mix without fibre was higher (1.945 mm) compared with SMA Mix with sugarcane bagasse fibre (1.635 mm). Dynamic modulus value for sugarcane bagasse fibre mix was higher at 25°C at all load frequencies. This could be due to the fact that the natural fibre could withstand higher temperatures. In conclusion, the idea of using sugarcane bagasse as fibre in SMA Mix can be considered and commercialized for road construction industry thus will provide durable and quality pavement. In addition, the use of natural fibre has environmental significance and is a cost-effective solution.