To study the Effect of Organophilic Nano-clay on Creep Stiffness of Asphalt Binder at Low Temperatures

Abstract

Abstract: The asphalt binder must be modified to extend the service life of flexible pavements. As the temperature outside drops, the pavements shrink and develop internal stresses. The pavement may break if this contraction happens quickly enough because it won't have time to relax these stresses. Due to the cracking's orientation with respect to the flow of traffic, this form of fracture is frequently referred to as a "thermal crack" or a "transverse crack.". The purpose of this article is to assess how adding nanoclay to asphalt binder changes its performance at low temperatures. The stiffness and stress relaxation time of a material can be measured with a Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR). It is ideal for asphalt binders to be able to release built-up tensions and not become overly stiff at low temperatures. The BBR test was carried out to investigate the low-temperature behaviour of asphalt binder. Test samples were prepared by adding varying nanoclay content and test temperatures were defined. Three small beams of each percentage were prepared and tested after conditioning at defined test temperatures. Results of modified asphalt binder were assessed and contrasted to unmodified asphalt binder to optimize the nanoclay content. The study revealed that increment in nanoclay amount increased the creep stiffness of asphalt binder. İt was concluded from the study that improvement of creep stiffness played a key role towards the low-temperature performance. The maximum increase in creep stiffness was found by the addition of 5 % nanoclay at -16 °C