Investigating the rheological and self-healing capability of toner-modified asphalt binder

Abstract

Annually, a considerable amount of toner is burned and wasted in the printing and copying industry. However, this burned toner can be used as an asphalt modifier. This study examined the effect of burned toner on the rheological properties and self-healing capability of asphalt binder, and also investigated the environmental concerns related to the use of waste toner. The rheological characterisation of original and toner-modified asphalt binders was analysed using dynamic shear rheometer test. A Fourier transform infrared test was also applied to evaluate their self-healing capability. Environmental concerns regarding the wasted toner were examined by using X-ray diffraction and X'pert HighScore software. The results showed that with an increase of waste toner modification in the modified asphalt blend, the elasticity component of the asphalt binder was enhanced, suggesting its high suitability at high temperatures for asphalt-pavement usage. It was also observed that, as the waste toner increased to 8%, the wetting and molecular diffusion processes of self-healing capability were improved. Moreover, the results also exhibited that the waste toner posed environmental concerns in aquatic environments due to its heavy and semi-heavy composition.