Investigation of Mixing and Compaction Temperatures of Modified Hot Asphalt and Warm Mix Asphalt

Abstract

The determination of mixing and compaction temperatures through the Equiviscous method has been defined as the standard method and it is designed for the base bitumen (unmodified bitumen) based on the viscosity measurements. The implementation of the Equiviscous method for the modified bitumen resulted in high mixing and compaction temperatures which may not be required during the construction of the asphalt mixtures. This study aims to investigate several alternative methods proposed in the literature named as high shear rate method, zero shear viscosity method, steady shear flow method, and phase angle method. Besides, the obtained mixing and compaction temperatures results are compared with the standard (equiviscous) method. For this purpose, 50/70 penetration grade bitumen modified with 5 % elastomeric type – Styrene Butadiene Styrene (SBS), and 1.5 % Reactive Elastomeric Terpolymer type – Elvaloy (RET) has been used. The study also aims to measure the applicability of the proposed alternative methods for the warm mix asphalt involving organic and chemical additives. The results have shown that for the polymer modified bitumen, the application of all proposed methods in the literature resulted in lower mixing and compaction temperatures compared to the Equiviscous method. While for the warm mix asphalt, the implementation of the steady shear flow method resulted in lesser temperatures compared to the Equiviscous method.