Moisture damage susceptibility of a wood-based bio-binder for total replacement of asphalt binders

Abstract

There is limited information on the characteristics and performance of paving mixtures made with 100% bio-binders. Moisture damage resistance of this type of mixture is a concern since the components of the bio-binder may have a higher affinity with water than asphalt binders. In this context, this paper presents a moisture damage susceptibility evaluation of wood-based bio-binder-aggregate interfaces in terms of energy parameters calculated from surface free energy components. The bio-binder was used as a total replacement for asphalt binders, and the responses were compared to a neat- and a highly modified-asphalt binder, considering different aggregate sources. Results suggest the bio-binder has similar moisture damage resistance to the neat asphalt binder and higher resistance than the highly modified asphalt binder, providing a first indication for the potential use of this bio-binder as 100% asphalt binder replacement. However, additional research is still required to validate these findings at the mixture level.

KEYWORDS:

• Bio-binder
• sustainability
• moisture susceptibility
• surface free energy
• full replacement of asphalt binder
• pavements

Acknowledgement

The authors express special thanks to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Fundação Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for the financial support to this research. The authors also acknowledge Greca Asfaltos and Quimigel, for providing the bio-binder used in this research, and to the Universidad del Magdalena, for facilitating the performance of the surface free energy tests.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES); Fundação Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP).