Applicability of Superpave Binder Testing Protocols to Modified Binders

Abstract

An effort is made to summarize current practices for modifying paving asphalts. The types and classes of modifiers used, or considered, for paving applications are reviewed. The applicability of the Superpave binder specification (AASHTO MP1) is reviewed critically, and the modified-asphalt characteristics that are not considered in this specification are evaluated. Conventional testing results of modified binders are compared with Superpave testing results. The results indicate that a variety of additives can be classified, on the basis of their composition and their effects on asphalts, as polymers (elastomeric and plastomeric), fillers, fibers, hydrocarbons, antistripping agents, oxidants, antioxidants, crumb rubber, and extenders. These additives vary significantly in their physical and chemical characteristics and are expected to have widely variable effects on performance-related properties of asphalts. The assumptions supporting the criteria in the Superpave binder specification may not be valid for some modified binder systems. Furthermore, the testing protocols included in the specification do not consider certain important characteristics that are typical of particular modified binders. Among these characteristics are strain dependency, thixotropy, loading-rate dependency, and time-temperature equivalency. Conventional measurements used currently by state departments of transportation such as ductility, elastic recovery, and resilience, were collected. The ranking of five modified systems on the basis of conventional and Superpave measurements was analyzed. The analysis does not indicate that the conventional test methods are consistent in their rankings, nor does it indicate that these measures add much to the information deduced from the Superpave data.