The addition of a high dosage of rubber to asphalt mixtures: The effects on rutting and fatigue

Abstract

Bitumen is subjected to cracks and damage during its service life. Adding a material with the potential to increase the durability of bitumen can expand its service life and reduce maintenance costs. Previous studies indicate that adding crumb rubber into asphalt has a positive effect on the performance of the mixture. Using crumb rubber may solve environmental problems due to vehicle tire waste disposal by reducing maintenance costs needed to increase asphalt’s strength. Some studies have investigated the effect of bitumen mixed with crumb rubber; however, it seems that the effect of different types of rubber mixtures used has been overlooked. Therefore, this study aims to better understand the effects of the increasing amount of rubber addition in various types of asphalt mixtures and determine the optimal mixture that could be used in road construction. A series of experiment was conducted, incorporating various tests (such as Marshall stability, rutting, and fatigue), to test various mixtures of asphalt in the form of dense-graded asphalt (DGA), fine gap-graded asphalt (FGG), gap-graded asphalt (Stone Mastic Asphalt, SMA), and open-graded asphalt. The amount of added crumb rubber was 25% by weight of bitumen. All mixtures were classified as superior in rutting and fatigue resistance, since they all reached a maximum depth of rutting less than 15 mm and generated two times more failure cycles compared to the conventional asphalt. The most optimal performance asphalt mixture was showed by the SMA10 mixture, resulting in a minimum rut depth of less than 1.2 mm and producing 750% more fatigue cycles than conventional asphalt. The result indicates that the addition of 25% of the rubber particles in the binder can increase the properties and durability of asphalt mixtures.