The Effect of the Nature of Rejuvenators on the Rheological Properties of Aged Asphalt Binders

Abstract

Pavement rehabilitation will become the main activity in the road engineering sector in the majority of developed countries. Thus, large quantities of reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) will be generated and their reuse in asphalt mixtures would provide considerable economic and environmental benefits. To overcome the problems caused by using an excessive amount of RAP in asphalt mixtures, the use of rejuvenators will play a key role. Recent years have seen the emergence of many types of asphalt rejuvenators. The main objective of this study is to characterize the effect of different rejuvenators (varying in nature) on the rheological properties of aged asphalts binders. For this purpose, an aged binder extracted from RAP was blended with four rejuvenators at different dosages. Their rheological properties were then evaluated using frequency sweep tests and several rheological parameters that assess the brittleness of aged binders (“G*·sin δ”; R-value and crossover frequency; G-R parameter). The results indicate that the rejuvenator based on oleyldiamine ethoxylate showed the best performance. However, similar results can also be achieved using bio-rejuvenators from plant-based ester resins.