Mixed polymeric wastes as a promise path to green roads

Abstract

In this study, asphalt binder was loaded with 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.% of grinded mixed waste of plastics. The polymeric waste comprised mainly from a mixture of PE/EPDM (60/40 wt.%). To study the effect of these wastes on asphalt binder performance; the physical properties of asphalt binder were studied including penetration, viscosity, and softening point. The mechanical characteristics of modified asphalt binder were studied using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). Two types of sweep tests were conducted on virgin and modified asphalt binder to study the effects of temperature and frequency on binder performance. Elastic recovery of modified asphalt binder was also investigated using the stress relaxation mode in DMA. In addition, the fatigue properties of modified asphalt samples were estimated from the obtained data of loss modulus and rutting factor (G*/sinδ). It is observed that mixed plastic waste positively enhances the performance of asphalt binder.