Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has received much attention recently due to its increased use in hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements to enhance pavement sustainability. The use of aged asphalt in RAP, which is highly oxidised and has lost its properties due to exposure to traffic loads and climatic conditions throughout its lifespan, can cause asphalt mixtures to stiffen and embrittle, thus negatively affecting the behaviour of asphalt mixtures. This issue may be resolved by including rejuvenating agents that can restore both physical and rheological properties of aged asphalt by increasing maltene fractions and decreasing asphaltene. However, the high restoration capacity of any kind of rejuvenating agent does not assure the durability of restored aged asphalt. This study explored the performance and durability of rejuvenated asphalt mixtures embedded with several types of rejuvenators identified from the extensive literature review. The study serves as a significant reference to predict future challenges in rejuvenating aged asphalt.
In recent years, the proliferation of plastic waste has become a global problem. A potential solution to this problem is the dry process, which incorporates plastic waste into asphalt mixtures. However, the dry process often has inconsistent performance due to poor interaction with binder and improper distribution of plastic waste particles in the mixture skeleton. This inconsistency may be caused by inaccurate mixing method, shredding size, mixing temperature and ingredient priorities. Thus, this study aims to improve the consistency of the dry process by comparing the control asphalt mixture and two plastic waste-modified asphalt mixtures prepared using the dry process. This study used crushed granite aggregate with the nominal maximum aggregate size of 14 mm whereas the shredded plastic bag is in the range of 5–10 mm. Quantitative sieving analysis and performance tests were carried out to examine the effects of plastic waste added into the asphalt mixture. The volumetric and performance properties combined with image analysis of the modified mixtures were obtained and compared with the control mixture. In addition, the moisture damage, resilient modulus, creep deformation and rutting were evaluated. This study also highlighted in detail the distribution of plastic particles in the final skeleton of the asphalt mixture. Based on the analysis, an enhanced dry process of mixing procedure was proposed and evaluated. Results showed that the addition of plastic particles using the conventional dry process leads to the deviation in the aggregate structure as high plastic content is added. Furthermore, the enhanced dry process developed in this study presents substantial enhancement in the asphalt performance, particularly with plastic waste that accounts for 20% of the weight of the asphalt binder.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.