Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) has great potential use in pavement. However, unclear characteristics of RCA and its relationship with the properties of asphalt mixture hinder severely its promotion. The objective of this study is to characterize the microscopic morphology and structure of RCA, further investigate its impact on the strength of asphalt mixture and associated mechanisms, by means of various test method. Results showed that cement mortar was the vital factor to affect the properties of RCA. Hence, the asphalt mixtures with RCA had characteristics of higher air voids (VV) and voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA), lower asphalt saturation (VFA), compared with conventional asphalt mixtures (CAM). In addition, according to the results of Micro-Scratch (MS) test, the compression depths of aggregate, interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and asphalt mortar in RAM are larger than that in CAM. Therefore, the influence of RCA on the performance of asphalt mixture is mainly in the following two aspects: reducing the strength of asphalt mortar; decreasing the skeleton strength of asphalt mixtures.
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