Ground tires are one of the main sources of urban solid waste. Rubber powder-modified asphalt provides an effective method to solve the problem, and it presents good high- and low-temperature performance in sustainable pavement construction. However, the storage properties of rubber powder-modified asphalts prepared from the traditional low-temperature shear mixing method are unstable, which restricts their application. In this study, four test methods (the softening-point test; the dynamic shear rheological test; the Laboratory Asphalt Stability Test; and fluorescence image analysis) and six evaluation indexes (the softening-point difference Sdiff, the segregation percentage Sp, the segregation index Ise, the segregation rate Rs, the degradation rate Rd, and the stability index Ist) were employed to analyze the storage abilities of asphalts modified by various activated rubber powder contents. The results show that the storage properties have a positive correlation with rubber powder content in the modified asphalt, and a rubber powder content of 60% is proven to be the optimum mixing amount. The rubber powders can distribute uniformly in the asphalt matrix when mixed below the optimum mixing amount; otherwise a rubber powder agglomeration is formed. The quantitative morphology analysis results are in good agreement with the laboratory test conclusions. The activated rubber powder shows better compatibility compared with ordinary rubber powders and presents a promising method to treat waste ground tires.

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The current evaluation method cannot predict accurately the hydrolysis resistance of sealants applied in ballastless slab track. And the degradation mechanism of sealant in hydrolysis condition has not been researched systemically. In this paper, the hydrolysis resistance of different sealants was researched with the aid of the self-developed direct tensile test method. The atomic force microscope was employed to analyze the microadhesion force on the surface of sealants, and thereby the correlation between macrobehavior and the micro-mechanism of sealants during hydrolysis was established. Results showed that the characteristics of the interface between sealants and substrates are reduced after hydrolysis, and that sealants with higher soft-segment content have good resistance to hydrolysis. Reduction of the bonding area after hydrolysis is also an important factor in the reduction of the characteristics of the adhesive interface. The micro-adhesion force of soft segments shows a fluctuating reduction tendency, and that of hard segments reduces more significantly during hydrolysis. The micro-adhesion force has good correlation with the maximum tensile force, but a poor correlation with failure displacement. The maximum tensile force is proved to be an optimal evaluation index in determining the hydrolysis resistance of sealants.

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