Adhesion Quality of Chip Seals: Comparing and Correlating the Plate-Stripping Test, Boiling-Water Test, and Energy Parameters from Surface Free Energy

Abstract

Chip seals constitute an alternative for maintaining and preserving asphalt pavement structures and constructing surface courses for low-traffic pavement structures. However, poor adhesion quality in the asphalt binder–aggregate interface of the chip seal can produce its accelerated deterioration and damage to vehicles due to the loss of aggregates. The main objective of this paper is to validate the feasibility of applying conventional tests (plate stripping and boiling water) to assess the adhesion quality of chip seals through the correlation of the results with those gathered from energy parameters (derived from surface free energy). Achieving this objective included the analysis of 135 combinations of aggregate–asphalt residue (recovered from asphalt emulsions). Corresponding results showed that there is no correlation between the plate-stripping test and the boiling-water test nor between their results and the energy parameters. However, the results suggest the possibility of optimizing the adhesion quality through the energy parameters, which can contribute to improving the chip seals design and field performance.