Abstract
This work presents an experimental program developed to evaluate the effect of epoxy-asphalt binder, used as replacement of bitumen, on the durability and fatigue life of an asphalt concrete mix. The use of epoxy-type binder as tack coat has been explored as well and thus experiments have been conducted to quantify the effect of epoxy tack coat on the interface strength of two-layer asphalt samples. Results indicated that the epoxy asphalt mixes had higher tensile strength than control mixes, and the increase of strength was noticed with increasing proportionally the amount of epoxy in bitumen. Additionally, the four-point bending tests indicate that a high modulus material, as the epoxy modified asphalt, can effectively reduce deflections of specimen beams and improve the fatigue resistance of mixes designed for surfacing roadway applications. On the basis of interlayer tests, the use of epoxy asphalt binder as tack coat improved the bonding strength between the two layers offering monolithic performance characteristics on high modulus roadway pavements. Overall, the current study concludes that a two-layer monolithic pavement system with epoxy asphalt could mitigate bonding defects, such as debonding, slippage and fatigue cracking propagated from bottom to up, of a surfacing (top) pavement layer of enhanced strength, modulus and fatigue resistance.
Highlights
Transportation generates more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector [1]
Epoxy asphalt has been used to enhance the durability of an asphalt concrete mix and to prove that the epoxy binder can improve the interlayer bonding capacity between two asphaltic layers
The major findings of this study are as follows: The laboratory results of durability and performance testing confirm that increase of the epoxy modification level in asphalt leads to stiffer and stronger materials of improved fatigue resistance
Summary
Transportation generates more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector [1]. Critical challenges, such as transition to zero carbon emissions for the transport infrastructure construction or free of maintenance transport networks, leads policy makers to explore the most cost-effective technologies to address these challenges. Tack coat is a light application of asphalt-based emulsion or asphalt binder which is used to create a strong bonding between the surface being paved and the overlying course to ensure adequate bonding strength [16]. One of the main challenges related to the application of tack coat binders is the choice of the optimum quantity of additives to be applied at the interface, to achieve an adequate level of interlayer bonding. Laboratory studies have been conducted as well to quantify the interface shear strength of two-layer epoxy asphalt concrete samples for different tack coats (i.e., emulsion- and epoxy-type binders)
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