Characterization of HMA Mixtures Containing High Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Content with Crumb Rubber Additives

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of crumb rubber (CR) from waste tires and engineered additives as a rejuvenator to high reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) content asphalt mixtures. Six asphalt mixtures were prepared by mixing aggregate blends with four asphalt binders, an unmodified asphalt binder classified as performance grade (PG) 64-22, two polymer-modified binders classified as PG 70-22M and PG 76-22M, and a PG 76-22 crumb-rubber-modified binder. The RAP content was varied from 0–40% and crumb-rubber additives were blended with the unmodified binder by using wet and dry processes. Hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixture testing included an evaluation of rutting susceptibility, moisture resistance, and resistance to cracking using the flow number test, the loaded-wheel tracking test, the dynamic modulus test, the modified Lottman test, the dissipated creep strain energy test, and the semi-circular bending test. Results of the experimental program indicated that the addition of the CR additives rejuvenated the blended asphalt binder for the HMA mixture with high RAP content. The use of high RAP content with crumb rubber as a rejuvenator in the preparation of HMA is expected to provide adequate moisture resistance and superior rutting resistance as compared to conventional mixtures. However, because of the hardening properties of the mix prepared with high RAP content, the fracture and cracking resistance of the produced mixture was reduced compared with polymer-modified mixes.