Laboratory Evaluation of High-Temperature Properties of Recycled PMA Binders

Abstract

Various environmentally friendly additives have been used to mitigate significant damage, such as plastic deformation and cracking, in asphalt pavements over the long term. Despite the existence of research demonstrating the efficacy of the materials for asphalt mixture, there has been a lack of studies focusing on the recycling of modified asphalt binders. Therefore, this study conveys the laboratory evaluation of the high-temperature properties of 12 recycled polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) binders as basic research. The data evaluation was carried out using crumb rubber modifier (CRM), styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), and styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS) modified binders, depending on their recycled binders. To assess the properties of each binder, the viscosity and viscoelasticity were measured. Overall, the results of this study revealed that (1) an increasing trend for the viscosity of all asphalt binders was seen as the recycled binder was added and showed their characteristics depending on modifiers; (2) the tendency for using each modified binder in the original and rolling thin-film oven (RTFO) condition appeared for modifiers to have their properties when reusing them; (3) from the Jnr and %rec values, each property of modifiers kept its inherent characteristics, but a potential limit was seen in that a styrene block copolymer was mainly effective on this test method. To sum up, modifiers in asphalt mixture can have their unique properties even after reusing them in recycled asphalt mixture. Therefore, it is recommended that modifiers in asphalt mixture are considered as a potential factor in utilizing reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP).