Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Viability of producing sustainable asphalt mixtures with crumb rubber

bitumen at reduced temperatures
Miguel Sol-Sánchez a, Ana Jiménez del Barco Carrión a,⇑, Ana Hidalgo-Arroyo a, Fernando Moreno-Navarro a,
Leticia Saiz b, María del Carmen Rubio-Gámez a
a
Laboratory of Construction Engineering at the University of Granada, C/ Severo Ochoa S/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
b
Signus, C/Caleruega, 102, 5°, 28033, Madrid, Spain

h i g h l i g h t s

 Asphalt mixtures with 20% crumb rubber are manufactured at 150 and 130 °C.
 High penetration bitumen and two additives are used to reduce viscosity.
 Asphalt mixtures are designed and mechanically characterised.
 Rubberised asphalt mixtures could be adequately manufactured at 130 °C.
 Their mechanical performance was not adversely affected.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The construction and maintenance of road pavements need to be undertaken to ensure proper economic
Received 2 April 2020 and social growth. Considering the high environmental impact that the production of asphalt mixtures
Received in revised form 30 June 2020 for road pavements entails, in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, these
Accepted 5 July 2020
operations must follow the global transition towards more sustainable development practices. In
response to this, previous research has been focused on the development of manufacturing low temper-
ature asphalt mixtures and the use of recycled modifiers such as tire crumb rubber to improve their dura-
Keywords:
bility. However, the use of high dosages of the latter reduces mixture workability, thus requiring high
Asphalt
Crumb rubber
manufacturing temperatures to reduce the viscosity of the binder, and therefore limiting the advance-
Recycling ment towards more sustainable mixtures. In this regard, further knowledge is needed on this topic to pro-
Low temperature manufacturing mote the combination of such techniques to maximise their advantages. This study aims to check the
Sustainability viability of producing asphalt mixtures with high crumb rubber contents at reduced temperatures, test-
ing their workability, stiffness, cohesion, resistance to permanent deformations and resistance to mois-
ture damage. Results show that it is possible to manufacture viable, warm, rubberised asphalt
mixtures at 150 °C using a high penetration bitumen and reduce this temperature to 130 °C (45 °C less
than conventional rubberised asphalt mixtures) by including warm additives, without compromising
their mechanical performance.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction regarding these activities is the high environmental impact

incurred during the production of asphalt mixtures for road pave-
The optimal performance of road transportation networks is a ments, in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG)
key factor for the economic and social development of any country. emissions [4]. To tackle this issue, the reduction of the manufactur-
Therefore, the construction and maintenance of road pavements ing temperature of asphalt mixtures has been a hot topic in pave-
need to be undertaken in accordance with the required sustainabil- ment engineering research for decades and has been proven to
ity targets as a matter of urgency [20]. One of the main concerns efficiently decrease such environmental impacts [44,46,53], as well
as have associated social benefits, such as reducing health and
safety risks for workers [43]. Depending on the manufacturing
⇑ Corresponding author.
temperatures, asphalt mixtures are classified as hot mix asphalt
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Jiménez del Barco Carrión).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.120154
0950-0618/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154

(>150 °C), warm mix asphalt (100–140 °C), half-warm mix asphalt 2. Materials and methods
(60–100 °C) and cold mix asphalt (0–40 °C). Despite their advan-
tages, the use of lower temperature asphalt mixtures is limited 2.1. Binders
in high traffic volume road pavements as there are some concerns
related to their mechanical performance in comparison to hot mix For the purpose of this investigation, four binders were studied:
asphalt [43,50], since their application should not comprise the one control binder and three tire crumb rubber modified binders
performance of the road. (one standard, and two with additives). A styrene–butadienestyr
In this regard, the use of bitumen modifiers helps improve the ene polymer modified binder (PMB 45/80-65), commonly used
performance of asphalt mixtures, and if these materials come for asphalt mixtures in wearing courses, was selected as the con-
from end-of-life products, their utilisation also represents a sus- trol binder. This PMB has a penetration between 45 and
tainable practice for promoting recycling, reducing landfill and 80 mm 1 and a softening point higher than 65 °C. A high penetra-
reducing costs. One of these materials is rubber from end-of-use tion grade bitumen (70/100) was chosen to be modified with 20%
tires, which is currently highly valued in transport infrastructure of tire crumb rubber, per bitumen mass, which is defined as a high
engineering [31,47]. Tire crumb rubber has already been proven tire rubber content according to Spanish standards [6] and its use
to enhance the mechanical performance of asphalt mixtures in results in a high-viscosity binder. This combination was chosen in
terms of resistance to fatigue, rutting and thermal susceptibility, order to balance the increase in viscosity (due to the presence of
increasing therefore the durability of the pavement tire crumb rubber), with the low viscosity of the high penetration
[9,22,26,37,33,27,28]. In addition, it improves the skid resistance, bitumen and target low manufacturing temperatures. The tire
reduces tire-pavement interaction noise due to traffic [45] and is crumb rubber properties are shown in Table 1. It has to be noticed
being used in hot recycling of asphalt mixtures [7,10,57]. Further- that 20% tire crumb rubber content is used for hot mix asphalt
more, several studies have demonstrated the importance of the applications, while the challenge of this investigation is to use it
modifier content in the binder [17,18,21,32] and that the advan- at reduced manufacturing temperatures, since it could be an obsta-
tages of using this modifier increase when its content increases in cle to obtain the desired density and mechanical performance of
asphalt mixtures [35,19,39]. the asphalt mixture. The Rubber Modified Binder (RMB) was man-
Nevertheless, the introduction of tire crumb rubber in asphalt ufactured by heating the bitumen up to a stable temperature of
mixtures in high contents does also significantly increase the vis- 165 °C, and then blended with the tire crumb rubber in a high-
cosity of the original bitumen and thus requires the use of high shear device at 3500 rpm for 60 min [3,5].
manufacturing temperatures (>175 °C) to ensure the correct coat- Two warm mix additives were investigated, namely: a wax (W)
ing of the aggregates, and adequate workability and cohesion of (SasobitÒ) and a surfactant (S) (ZycothermÒ). Waxes are organic
the final compacted asphalt mixture [38]. In this regard, if the additives completely soluble in bitumen at temperatures higher
advantages of high tire crumb rubber content and low manufac- than 120 °C. These additives reduce bitumen viscosity at high tem-
turing temperatures are to be combined to produce more sustain- peratures, allowing therefore the reduction of the manufacturing
able asphalt mixtures, further modifications, such as the use of temperatures of asphalt mixtures, and improve their resistance
warm additives, need to be introduced in their composition to rutting due to their complete crystallisation at 65 °C. Surfactants
[50,51]. are able to reduce the surface tension of bitumen by improving the
Researchers have investigated this topic in the last decade aggregates’ coating, adhesion and cohesion properties in asphalt
mostly focusing on the binder’s properties, due to its significant mixtures [8]. Both additives were blended with the RMB to pro-
impact on the asphalt mixture’s performance [30,32,50]. Warm duce RMB-W (RMB + 3% W) and RMB-S (RMB + 0.05% S) respec-
mix additives can be classified as organic (wax-based) or chemical tively, using the dosage recommended by the additive suppliers.
[43], and in general they all produce the desired effect on the mod- To manufacture RMB-W and RMB-S, the previously produced
ified binder with tire crumb rubber; reducing its viscosity and RMB was heated up to 165 °C and then blended with the additives
complex modulus at high temperatures to allow the reduction in at 300 rpm for another 60 min.
manufacturing temperatures [2,25,42,56,40]. However, the
mechanical response of the tire crumb rubber modified binder
with warm mix additives has been found to be highly dependent 2.2. Asphalt mixtures
on the type of additive used, and therefore it is not possible to draw
clear conclusions when needing to select additives Asphalt mixtures were manufactured using the PMB, RMB,
[2,49,24,40,23,54]. In addition, several studies have shown that RMB-W and RMB-S, separately, at three different temperatures:
warm rubberised asphalt mixtures exhibit equivalent or improved 175, 150 and 130 °C. The asphalt mixtures were designed for
mechanical performance when compared with hot rubberised ‘‘BBTM 11A” wearing courses, which stands for ‘‘Beton
asphalt [36,27,28,41,52,55,58]. Nevertheless, in these studies, the Bitumineux Tres Minces” and are gap-graded asphalt mixtures
manufacturing temperatures were reduced only to 145 °C, which for thin surface courses with maximum aggregate size of
is in the limit between hot and warm mix asphalt. Hence, more 11 mm. The BBTM 11A with PMB was manufactured at 175 °C,
research is needed to provide a higher confidence in these type the mixture with RMB was manufactured at the three aforemen-
of asphalt mixtures. tioned temperatures, and the BBTM11A with RMB-W and RMB-S
Therefore, the aim of this study is to advance the development were manufactured at 150 °C and 130 °C, given that the purpose
of warm rubberised asphalt mixtures, via the use of a high tire of this investigation is to study their performance at low manu-
crumb rubber content and lower manufacturing temperatures, in facturing temperatures. For the mineral skeleton of the mixture,
order to achieve more sustainable asphalt mixtures. For this pur- limestone aggregates were used for the fine fraction (0/6 mm),
pose, warm rubberised asphalt mixtures were produced at ophitic aggregates were used for the coarse fraction (6/12 mm)
150 °C and 130 °C using a high penetration bitumen (to allow and cement was used as filler. The gradation of the BBTM 11A
the reduction in manufacturing temperatures), a 20% tire crumb asphalt mixtures is shown in Fig. 1. The binder content chosen
rubber content (in weight of bitumen) and two warm additives. was 5% of the total weight of the asphalt mixture. Aggregate gra-
To quantify the viability of the performance of the binders and dation and binder content were fixed for all of the asphalt mix-
mixtures tested, they were characterised and compared to conven- tures, so that the binder type and manufacturing temperature
tional mixtures. were the only variables in the study.
 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154 3

Table 1
Properties and composition of the tire crumb rubber used.

Properties
Density (g/cm3) 1.17
Color Black
Particle morphology Irregular
Moisture content (%) <0.75
Textile content (%) <0.5
Metal content (%) <0.1
Grain size
Sieve (mm) 0.6 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.063
% material passing 100 74 19 2 0
Composition Min. (%) Max. (%)
Cetonic extract 7.5 17.5
Natural rubber (NR) 21.0 42.0
Polymers (NR/SBR) 50.0 55.0
Sulfur – 5.0
Carbon black 20.0 38.0
Ash – 18.5

100 Table 2
Testing programme summary.

80 Phase I Binder Tests Property

Material passing (%)

Binder rheological PMB Frequency and Consistency

characterisation RMB temperature and
60 RMB – W sweeps viscoelasticity
RMB – S

40 Phase II Asphalt mixture Tests Property

Warm rubberised BBTM 11A PMB @ Compactability
20 asphalt mixture 175 °C Stiffness Workability
design (selection BBTM 11A RMB @
of the type of 175 °C Bearing
0 additive and BBTM 11A RMB @ Triaxial capacity
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 manufacturing 150 °C
Size (mm) temperature) BBTM 11A RMB @ Particle loss
Larger Grain Size Smaller Grain Size BBTM 11A 130 °C Permanent
BBTM 11A RMB- deformation
Fig. 1. BBTM11A asphalt mixture gradation. W @ 150 °C
BBTM 11A RMB- Cohesion
W @ 130 °C
BBTM 11A RMB-S
2.3. Testing method
@ 150 °C
BBTM 11A RMB-S
The testing method was divided into three phases: (1) the rhe- @ 130 °C
ological characterisation of the binders; (2) the design of the warm
rubberised asphalt mixtures with high tire crumb rubber content Phase III Asphalt mixture Tests Property
(selection of the type of additive and manufacturing temperature); Warm rubberised BBTM 11A RMB @ Wheel track Rutting
(3) the complete mechanical characterisation of the warm rub- asphalt mixture 175 °C Indirect resistance
berised asphalt mixtures with high tire crumb rubber contents. complete Tensile Water
The first phase is dedicated to the study of binders to understand mechanical BBTM11A RMB – Strength dry sensitivity
characterisation additive? and wet
the performance of the highly modified high penetration bitumen temperature? (to
with tire crumb rubber and the additives. The purpose of the sec- be selected in
ond phase is to analyse the influence of the additives and manufac- Phase II)
turing temperatures, to then select the best combination to
produce warm rubberised asphalt mixtures with high tire crumb
rubber content. In the third phase, the hot rubberised asphalt mix- geometry. The complex modulus and phase angle were measured
tures are further characterised and compared to finalise their and displayed in Black diagrams for the analysis of the different
mechanical performance classification according to Spanish stan- rheological responses. The Black diagrams were used to select
dards. Table 2 shows a summary of the testing programme. The the data for the overlapping temperatures tested using with both
precise testing carried out in each phase is described in details in geometries [1].
the sections below.
2.3.2. Design of the warm rubberised asphalt mixture with high tire
2.3.1. Binder rheological characterisation crumb rubber content (selection of the type of additive and
All binders were rheologically characterised using a Dynamic manufacturing temperature)
Shear Rheometer (DSR) to perform frequency sweeps (0.1 Hz to The four BBTM11A asphalt mixtures were manufactured at dif-
20 Hz) at different temperatures (10 °C – 80 °C). The tests were car- ferent temperatures and mechanically characterised to determine
ried out from 10 °C to 45 °C using the 8 mm parallel-plate geome- their workability, stiffness, resistance to permanent deformations
try and from 30 °C to 80 °C using the 25 mm parallel-plate and cohesion properties.
4 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154

The workability was monitored during the manufacturing of the 1.00E+09

asphalt mixtures specimens by mean of the gyratory compactor, 1.00E+08
recording their density and fixing the compaction energy at 150

Complex Modulus |G*| [Pa]

gyros. 1.00E+07
The stiffness modulus was determined following the standard 1.00E+06
EN 12697-26 Annex C (2018) [15]. In this test, 15 loading pulses
1.00E+05
are applied to a cylindrical specimen (100 mm of diameter and
60 mm of height) in two perpendicular diameters. The first 10 1.00E+04
pulses are used to condition the specimen and the 5 next pulses 1.00E+03
are used to measure the stiffness modulus. For each specimen,
the stiffness modulus is the average of the measurement of the 1.00E+02

two diameters. For the asphalt mixture, the stiffness modulus is 1.00E+01
the average of the three specimens.
1.00E+00
The resistance to permanent deformation was characterised 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
through triaxial tests (EN 12697-25, Method B 2016) [14]. In the Phase Angle [°]
triaxial test, a cylindrical specimen is subjected to a confinement
load (120 kPa) and an axial load (300 kPa) at a frequency of 3 Hz RMB RMB - W RMB - S PMB 45/80-65
for 10,000 cycles. In this test, the creep ratio and the permanent
Fig. 2. Bitumen and binders’ Black diagram.
deformation are obtained as the average of the results of three
specimens.
The cohesion properties of the asphalt mixtures were studied
using the particles loss test [12]. In this test, a cylindrical specimen located at the bottom right corner of the graph, while those with
conditioned at 25 °C is introduced in Los Angeles device applying a high elastic component are located in the top left corner. In the
300 gyrations. The mass of the specimen is measured before and Black diagram, a conventional bitumen shows its thermorheologi-
after the test and the particle loss is obtained as a measure of the cally simple behaviour by having a smooth and unique curve over
cohesion of the asphalt mixture (from the average particle loss of all the range of temperatures and frequencies [1]. As a first obser-
three specimens). vation, in Fig. 2, all RMBs shows a clear thermoreologically com-
plex behaviour, as well as the PMB, since their curves are not
2.3.3. Complete mechanical characterisation of the warm rubberised unique nor smooth. Secondly, compared to the PMB, regardless
asphalt mixtures with high tire crumb rubber content of having a high penetration bitumen as base (70/100 penetration
In order to finalise their mechanical performance characterisa- grade), the high tire crumb rubber content allows the RMBs to
tion according to Spanish standards [29], the water sensitivity reach similar complex modulus to the PMB (slightly lower in the
and rutting resistance of the BBTM11A with RMB manufactured case of RMB-S). Finally, the three RMBs exhibit an increase of the
at 175 °C and a warm mix asphalt, which was selected depending elastic component at high temperatures (decrease of phase angle),
on the performance criteria in the previous phase. The water sen- which is more significant in the case of RMB and RMB-W and
sitivity of the two asphalt mixtures was characterised according to greater than that of the PMB, which is a sign of the predominance
EN 12697-12 (2018) [11]. In this standard, the water sensitivity is of the rubber’s behaviour at such temperatures [48].
determined by the Indirect Tensile Strength Ratio (ITSR), calculated Analysing the influence of the wax and surfactant, RMB-W was
as the ratio between the Indirect Tensile Strength of a set of three found to have a similar viscoelastic response to RMB, but with an
dry specimens (ITSd) and the Indirect Tensile Strength of a set of increased elastic component (lower phase angles) compared to
three specimens after wet conditioning (ITSw). The dry specimens RMB, especially at high temperatures when the wax is more active,
are conditioned at room temperature (20 ± 5 °C), while the wet and which may increase the resistance to permanent deformations
specimens are conditioned at 40 °C for 72 h after being subjected with respect to that of RMB. In addition, the wax modification
to vacuum at 6.7 ± 0.3 kPa. The six specimens are then tested to increases the consistency of the binder showing the highest com-
determine their ITS at 15 °C after being conditioned for 2 h. plex modulus among the three RMBs. On the other hand, RMB-S
Finally, the resistance to permanent deformations of the asphalt shows a more elastic response and lower complex modulus com-
mixtures was further characterised using the wheel tracking test pared to RMB. These results are in accordance to those presented
[13]. In this test, a slab specimen (408 mm  256 mm  60 mm) by other authors for the modification of a 50/70 bitumen using tire
is subjected to a 700 N passing wheel load for 10,000 cycles at crumb rubber and waxes [16].
60 °C. The permanent deformation is measured for each cycle
and plotted versus the cycle number. The result of the test is given
3.2. Design of the warm rubberised asphalt mixture with high tire
by rut depth (RD) and wheel track slope (WTS, mm/103 loading
crumb rubber content (selection of the type of additive and
cycles), measured during the last 5,000 cycles, from the average
manufacturing temperature)
of two specimens.

Table 3 shows the final density of the manufactured asphalt

3. Results and discussion mixtures after 150 gyrations. It can be observed that the com-
pactability of the asphalt mixtures increases with the addition of
3.1. Binder rheological characterisation the wax and surfactant in comparison to the reference asphalt mix-
tures manufactured at 130 °C. This fact is particularly noticeable
Fig. 2 shows the Black diagram of the PMB, RMB, RMB-W and for the BBTM 11A with RMB-W, which reaches the same density
RMB-S obtained from the frequency and temperature sweeps. This values as the BBTM 11A with PMB and higher density than the
diagram displays the norm of the complex modulus versus the BBTM 11A with RMB. These results reflect the improvement in
phase angle of a material for all the temperatures and frequencies workability that the additives provide to the highly modified
tested, and is considered as the fingerprint of its viscoelastic beha- crumb rubber asphalt mixtures, allowing a reduction in manufac-
viour. Those materials exhibiting a highly viscous behaviour are turing temperatures up to 45 °C.
 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154 5

Table 3 high resistance to permanent deformations regardless of the use

Density of the manufactured asphalt mixtures and comparison of rubberised asphalt of additives and manufacturing temperature [34]. Moreover, the
mixtures to reference.
results evidence that, despite the fact that a decrease in manufac-
Asphalt mixture Density % Density achieved compared turing temperature should imply an increase in permanent defor-
[Mg/m3] to BBTM 11A PMB mation, the use of additives reduces this effect; in particular for
BBTM 11A PMB @ 175 °C 2.47 – asphalt mixtures manufactured at 130 °C, where the surfactant
BBTM 11A RMB @ 175 °C 2.44 98,8% was found to be more efficient in this case. This result highlights
BBTM 11A RMB @ 150 °C 2.43 98,4%
BBTM 11A RMB @ 130 °C 2.41 97,6%
those seen in the rheology of the binders (Fig. 2), having a high
BBTM 11A RMB-W @ 150 °C 2.42 98,0% elastic behaviour at high temperatures, compensating the possible
BBTM 11A RMB-W @ 130 °C 2.47 100,0% detrimental effect of the low manufacturing temperature.
BBTM 11A RMB-S @ 150 °C 2.43 98,4% Fig. 5 presents the particle loss of the asphalt mixtures. All the
BBTM 11A RMB-S @ 130 °C 2.42 98,0%
rubberised asphalt mixtures present a higher particle loss than the
control mixture, hence showing a reduced resistance to abrasion.
However, it is important to highlight that a particle loss lower than
Fig. 3 displays the results of the stiffness modulus according to 20% is considered as an adequate performance of asphalt mixtures
EN 12697-26 Annex C (2018) measured at 5 °C, 20 °C and 40 °C. for wearing courses [29]. In terms of manufacturing temperature,
The first observation in Fig. 3 is that despite using a high penetra- the rubberised asphalt mixtures without additives (mixtures with
tion binder (70/100) as base for the modification, the high tire RMB) show an increase in the particle loss as the manufacturing
crumb rubber content allows obtaining high stiffness values for temperature decreases, therefore displaying a reduced cohesion.
the asphalt mixtures compared to the one containing PMB, which Regarding the influence of additives, Fig. 6 shows that they
is in accordance to the results of the rheology of the binders improve the cohesion of the warm rubberised asphalt mixtures,
showed in Phase I of the investigation. especially at 130 °C and when using the wax.
In terms of reduced manufacturing temperatures, Fig. 3 reveals In the light of the results obtained, it can be said that the com-
a stiffness modulus reduction for each asphalt mixture, which is in bination of a high penetration binder with a high tire crumb rubber
agreement to previous research for warm rubberised asphalt mix- content provides satisfactory results at 150 °C, due to having
tures [41]. Nevertheless, regarding the influence of the additive, equivalent results to the mixture manufactured at 175 °C. How-
the use of the wax at 150 °C and 130 °C provides a higher stiffness ever, if the manufacturing temperature is to be reduced to
modulus in comparison to the hot rubberised asphalt mixture at 130 °C, the use of additives becomes necessary in order to obtain
any manufacturing temperature, which does not occur using the the desired mixture performance. In this regard, among the two
surfactant. This effect of the wax was observed by [55], but with additives used in this study, the warm rubberised asphalt mixture
manufacturing temperatures going down only to 160 °C and using manufactured using RMB-W at 130 °C exhibited the best perfor-
a 50/70 penetration grade bitumen as base for crumb rubber mod- mance in terms of workability, stiffness, permanent deformation
ification. This highlights the benefits in the presented investigation and cohesion. Therefore, this asphalt mixture and the BBTM 11A
of using (1) a high penetration grade binder (70/100) to further with RMB manufactured at 175 °C (reference hot rubberised
reduce manufacturing temperatures and (2) a high rubber content asphalt mixture), were selected for mechanical characterisation
to maintain the increase in stiffness. This result implies that the according to Spanish standards [29].
bearing capacity of the warm rubberised asphalt mixtures with
wax is not compromised by the reduction of the manufacturing 3.3. Warm rubberised asphalt mixture with high tire crumb rubber
temperature. content complete mechanical characterisation
Fig. 4 shows the results of the creep ratio and permanent defor-
mation obtained in the triaxial test according to 12697-25 (2016) Fig. 6 displays the results of the Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) of
performed at 60 °C. In general, the presence of rubber provides the dry and wet specimens and their Indirect Tensile Strength

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A
PMB @ 175 RMB @ 175 RMB @ 150 RMB @ 130 RMB-W @ RMB-W @ RMB-S @ RMB-S @
°C °C °C °C 150 °C 130 °C 150 °C 130 °C

5°C 20°C 40°C

Fig. 3. Stiffness modulus at different temperatures of the asphalt mixtures.

6 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154

1.800 0.30
1.600

Permanent deformation [%]

0.25
1.400
1.200 0.20

Creeo ratio
1.000
0.15
0.800
0.600 0.10
0.400
0.05
0.200
0.000 0.00
BBTM BBTM BBTM BBTM BBTM BBTM BBTM BBTM
11A PMB 11A RMB 11A RMB 11A RMB 11A RMB- 11A RMB- 11A RMB- 11A RMB-
@ 175 °C @ 175 °C @ 150 °C @ 130 °C W @ 150 W @ 130 S @ 150 S @ 130
°C °C °C °C

Permanent deformation Creep ratio

Fig. 4. Creep ratio and permanent deformations of asphalt mixtures.

35

30

25
Particle Loss [%]

20

15

10

0
BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A BBTM 11A
PMB @ RMB @ RMB @ RMB @ RMB-W @ RMB-W @ RMB-S @ RMB-S @
175 °C 175 °C 150 °C 130 °C 150 °C 130 °C 150 °C 130 °C

Fig. 5. Particle loss of the asphalt mixtures.

Ratio (ITSR). Firstly, the ITS of both rubberised asphalt mixtures are
2000 100 adequate for this type of asphalt mixtures (BBTM 11A), usually
1800 90 manufactured with a PMB or a 50/70 penetration grade bitumen
1600 80 modified with a low tire crumb rubber content (maximum 5%)
1400 70 [33]). This fact reveals that is feasible to use a high tire crumb rub-
ber content with a 70/100 penetration grade bitumen for this type
ITS [kPa]

ITSR [%]

1200 60
of asphalt mixtures, and furthermore it is possible to reduce their
1000 50
manufacturing temperature 45 °C by introducing a warm mix
800 40
additive and without compromising their ITS.
600 30 In terms of water sensitivity, the Spanish specification [29] for
400 20 these type of asphalt mixtures requires the ITSR to be higher than
200 10 90% to be acceptable. This requirement is clearly met by both rub-
0 0 berised asphalt mixtures.
BBTM 11A RMB @ 175 °C BBTM 11A RMB-W @ 130 °C Fig. 7 shows the results of the wheel tracking test. It can be
ITS dry ITS wet ITSR
observed that rut depth (RD) and wheel track slope (WTS) are sim-
ilar for the two asphalt mixtures tested, as well as the deformation
Fig. 6. Water sensitivity results of the asphalt mixtures. curves obtained during the test. In the same way than for ITS, the
 M. Sol-Sánchez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 265 (2020) 120154 7

3 cracking, and study more additives and dosages. The implementa-

Average WTS = tion of these asphalt mixtures would reduce the energy consump-
0.088 mm/103 cycles
2.5 tion, costs and GHG emissions related to the manufacturing and
application of high rubber modified asphalt mixtures, and improve
Average RD [mm]

2 the health and safety conditions for workers, by reducing haz-

Average WTS =
0.068 mm/103 cycles ardous production fumes. In this sense, performing the sustainabil-
1.5 ity assessment of this technology to quantify such benefits will be
crucial.
1
CRediT authorship contribution statement
0.5

Miguel Sol-Sánchez: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investi-

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
gation, Project administration, Writing - review & editing. Ana
Jiménez del Barco Carrión: Writing - original draft, Visualization,
Loading cycles (wheel passes)
Investigation, Formal analysis. Ana Hidalgo-Arroyo: Investigation,
Formal analysis. Fernando Moreno-Navarro: Conceptualization,
BBMTM11A @ 175ºC BBTM11A RMB-W @ 130 ºC
Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition,
Fig. 7. Permanent deformation versus loading cycles in the wheel tracking test. Supervision. Leticia Saiz: Resources, Supervision. María del Car-
men Rubio-Gámez: Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisi-
tion, Supervision.
results of the RD of both show to be suitable compared to typical
values for conventional BBTM 11A [33]. Moreover, the average Declaration of Competing Interest
RD of the warm mixture is only 5% higher than the hot rubberised
mixture, having that the resistance to rutting of BBTM11A RMB-W The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
manufactured at 130 °C is equivalent to that of the BBTM11A RMB cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
manufactured at 175 °C. These results further support the viability to influence the work reported in this paper.
of using a high amount of crumb rubber modified high-penetration
grade bitumen for this type of asphalt mixture, and reduce the References
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