Influence of Cereclor on the performance of aged asphalt binder

ABSTRACT

Recycling of an asphalt pavement reduces construction cost as well as the environmental degradation. Adding the bitumen emulsion as a rejuvenator in aged and oxidised asphalt binder improves its viscosity and stiffness without significantly decreasing the carbonyl index. This results in a high aging rate of such asphalt materials. This study proposes Cereclor as an alternate rejuvenator in the replacement of conventional bitumen-based emulsion. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of Cereclor on aged asphalt binder’s characteristics, aging resistance and on the durability of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) modified asphalt mixtures. Carbonyl index was calculated from IR spectra of samples before and after laboratory aging to evaluate the aging resistance. It was observed that a 9% by weight of Cereclor rejuvenates 40/50 pen grade aged asphalt binder to the level of 60/70 pen grade bitumen. For durability assessment of RAP and rejuvenated mixes, fatigue, rutting and moisture susceptibility tests were performed. Four-point beam fatigue test showed that a 9% dose of Cereclor has increased the fatigue life of RAP by almost two times as compared to emulsion. Rut depth for all samples was in the range of 3–4 mm satisfying the rutting failure criteria. Overall, this study revealed that Cereclor has higher rejuvenation potential as compared to bitumen-based emulsion and thus it can potentially be used in pavement recycling.

KEYWORDS:

• Flexible pavement
• recycled asphalt pavement
• emulsion
• Cereclor
• FTIR
• carbonyl index
• asphalt mixture durability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.