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The current need to move towards more sustainable technologies in the construction sector has promoted the investigation of using alternative materials in asphalt mixtures for pavements. Biomaterials, used as biobinders, have shown their potential as partial replacement of bitumen in asphalt mixtures as solution to decreasing the demand for fossil-fuel-based binders as well as CO2 emissions. However, more research is needed to increase the replacement of bitumen in asphalt mixtures. In this investigation,biobinders are used as full replacement of virgin bitumen and as recycling agent within asphalt mixtures with high Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) content. Blends of biobinders and RA binders, and bio-recycled asphalt mixtures, were produced, subjected to ageing and rheologically characterised. The results show that the rheological properties of binders’ blends seem adequate for their use, while the bio-recycled asphalt mixtures seem to have a faster ageing than conventional ones, hence their full-scale application still remains a concern.

The addition of crumb rubber particles as bitumen modifier can be currently considered as a well-established alternative to conventional polymers for bitumen modification. However, Recycle Tyre Rubber (RTR) modified binders still present drawbacks such as poor mix workability and hot storage stability. Within this study the authors try unlocking the full potential of devulcanised tyre rubber-heavy oils blend, named Liquid Rubber (LR), by exploring the possibility of tailoring recycled polymer modified bitumen with unconventional high-content of RTR and designed to overcome the above mentioned technological problems of RTR modified bitumen while keeping its advantages. Results show that LR-bitumen blends incorporating up to 30% RTR in weight of total binder clearly improves useful temperature interval of base bitumen by maintaining solubility values allowing them to be considered stable at hot-storage temperature. Furthermore, the LR modifier allows reducing usual manufacture temperatures up to 30 °C by providing superior low and intermediate temperature rheology, however high service temperature properties are improved only at low strain.

In this paper, a new and simple approach to estimate the rheological properties of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) binder is proposed to overcome the limitations of the conventional extraction procedure. This method is based on Dynamic Shear Rheometer tests performed on mortars composed of RAP fine fraction and virgin binder, together with a new back-calculation solution. The properties of the bituminous blends of virgin and RAP binders are obtained with a modified Nielsen model. The Voigt model is then successfully used to estimate complex modulus and phase angle of the RAP binder from the properties of the back-calculated binder blend. This procedure would prevent the need of RAP binder extractions to determine its properties, which is time-consuming and might modify the actual binder characteristics.

Pavement Life Cycle Management is a 2-year international project aiming at supporting European National Road Authorities (NRAs) to introduce sustainability in their practices by providing training on Life Cycle techniques and a user-friendly package to support their widespread implementation. The first task in Pavement Life Cycle Management (Pave-mentLCM) project is the creation of a Sustainability Assessment (SA) framework that complies with EN15643-5 and consequently include the three pillars of sustainability, use a life cycle ap-proach and use quantifiable sustainability performance indicators. This paper presents the first steps towards the creation of the framework which includes the following steps: 1) review of the available Product Category Rules (PCRs) related to asphalt mixtures and pavement activi-ties; 2) definition of the object of the assessment; 3) review and survey of NRAs practices of the main research efforts in Europe towards the definition of sustainability performance indicators.

As part of an effort by agencies and industry to move towards performance-based design to evaluate mixtures in the laboratory at a smaller scale before moving to full scale operation, laboratory protocols exist to simulate the aging that occurs as a material is produced. However, recent research has shown that these existing protocols may not accurately represent the changes a material experiences in a plant. Moreover, due to the focus of previous studies on the ability of the current method to replicate mixture characteristics and performance in an undamaged state, there is a lack of information as it relates to the damaged state. This paper presents a concise description of a study undertaken on a particular mixture to evaluate the differences in the behaviour of a standard asphalt concrete mixture produced in the laboratory and in the plant to assess the anticipated field performance at the mixture design stage. The results, in terms of the rheological properties of binders extracted and recovered from laboratory and plant produced mixtures as well as rheological, repeated cyclic fatigue, and cracking performance evaluation of the asphalt mixtures, have shown the ability of a short-term oven aging protocol to replicate plant produced material in the laboratory.

Polymer Modified Bitumens (PMBs) are largely used for pavement and roofing membranes applications with Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Block copolymer (SBS) playing a major role in both markets despite its constantly increasing price due to the rising demand for quality bitumen modifiers. On the other hand, there is an increasing trend of recycling end of life tyres generating Recycled Tyre Rubber (RTR) at affordable price. This investigation aims at engineering a modified bitumen with a combination of Liquid Rubber (LR), a homogeneous blend of 50–70% RTR pre-processed in combination with heavy oils, and a wax denominated Ethylene Bis Stearamide (EBS). In the first phase, the effect of LR and EBS was independently characterised and compared to PMBs. Next, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to predict the response of different combinations of LR and EBS in terms of low and high temperature properties and cost, to then be optimised targeting conventional and rheological properties of PMBs currently used in asphalt mixtures and roofing membranes in UK. As a result, an optimum combination of LR and EBS was found leading to a cost-effective modified bitumen comparable to PMBs. The work provided also analytical functions that could be of use in further design exercises.

The construction and maintenance of road pavements need to be undertaken to ensure proper economic and social growth. Considering the high environmental impact that the production of asphalt mixtures for road pavements entails, in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, these 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 temperature asphalt mixtures and the use of recycled modifiers such as tire crumb rubber to improve their durability. However, the use of high dosages of the latter reduces mixture workability, thus requiring high manufacturing temperatures to reduce the viscosity of the binder, and therefore limiting the advancement towards more sustainable mixtures. In this regard, further knowledge is needed on this topic to promote the combination of such techniques to maximise their advantages. This study aims to check the viability of producing asphalt mixtures with high crumb rubber contents at reduced temperatures, testing their workability, stiffness, cohesion, resistance to permanent deformations and resistance to moisture 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.

Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) has shown great potential for being used in the construction or maintenance of roads. However, RAP is usually downgraded to lower pavement layers and the percentage of RAP used in wearing courses is still moderate (≤30%). The research and results contained in this paper focus on the definition of binder recipes aimed at increasing the percentage of RAP in hot and warm mix asphalt wearing courses. A review of current internationally used blend design methodologies is presented followed by case studies aimed at defining binder recipes for high RAP content asphalt mixture wearing courses to be further used for mix design and production in asphalt plants. Binder design has been carried out by means of rotational viscosity, Dynamic Shear Rheometer, Bending Beam Rheometer and conventional experimental tests with results showing that the amount of RAP used in a mix can be increased through the development of an accurate binder design and the selection of an appropriate rejuvenator. As a result, laboratory design showed that using up to 90% of RAP is a feasible option. However, the percentage of RAP to be used is highly dependent on the properties of the initial RAP binder, so every case has to be independently and carefully studied. The research presented is carried out as part of the CEDR Transnational Road research Programme Call 2012 (http://allback2pave.fehrl.org) and the Marie Curie Initial Training Network action, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN (http://www.superitn.eu).

This paper presents the results from a laboratory investigation on the effects of aging on the properties of two binders recovered from two different sources of Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) and additivated with a biorejuvenator derived from pine trees. It has been already proven that the rejuvenators are able to restore some of the properties of the aged binder present in the RA, but nowadays their effects into the long-term period are not well known. In this regard, the rejuvenated asphalt binders and a virgin binder, defined as a target, have been aged artificially to simulate short-and long-term aging. All binders have been studied conducting physical, chemical, rheological, and performance-related tests at three different aging levels. Results show that physical and rheological properties can be fully restored by the addition of the proper dose of rejuvenator, while the chemical composition should be investigated in more detail. Rejuvenated binders exhibit great long-term performance especially at high and low temperatures, but also show significant resistance against fatigue at intermediate temperatures.

Crumb rubber modified binders are environmental-friendly alternatives to polymer modified bitumens in asphalt mixtures. This paper compares the performance of both types of binders with different modifier contents. Six binders were characterised by conventional tests and analysed using the UCL method. This method evaluates different properties of binders regarding their role in asphalt mixtures (cohesion, water and thermal sensitivity and resistance to ageing). Results showed that i) crumb rubber concentration has to be higher than that of SBS-polymers in order to obtain a similar performance to that of SBS-polymer modified bitumen; ii) crumb rubber modified binders are more stable than SBS-polymer modified binders in terms of modifier concentration; iii) crumb rubber modified binders exhibited less water sensitivity and similar thermal and ageing susceptibility to SBS-polymer modified binders; iv) linear relationships have been found between modifier concentration and the properties studied for both kind of binders., Los betunes modificados con polvo de neumático (PN) son alternativas ambientalmente sostenibles a los betunes modificados con polímeros. Este artículo compara el comportamiento de ambos tipos de betunes con varios contenidos de modificador. Para ello, se caracterizaron seis betunes mediante ensayos convencionales y método UCL. Este método evalúa propiedades de ligantes para su uso en mezclas bituminosas (cohesión, sensibilidad al agua, térmica y al envejecimiento). Los resultados muestran que i) la concentración de PN ha de ser más elevada que la de polímeros para obtener comportamiento semejante; ii) los betunes con PN son más estables ante cambios en la concentración de modificador que los betunes con polímeros; iii) los betunes con PN presentan menor sensibilidad al agua y equivalente susceptibilidad térmica y al envejecimiento que los betunes con polímeros; iv) se encontraron buenos ajustes lineales entre la concentración de modificadores y la evolución de las propiedades estudiadas.

The interest in using bio-materials in pavement engineering has grown significantly over the last decades due to environmental concerns about the use of non-recoverable natural resources. In this paper, bio-materials are used together with Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) to restore some of the properties of the aged bitumen present in mixtures with high RA content. For this purpose, two bio-materials are studied and compared to conventional and polymer modified bitumens. Blends of these materials with RA bitumen were produced and studied to simulate a 50% RA mixture. The rejuvenating effect of the two bio-materials on RA has been assessed and compared with the effect of the conventional binders. Apparent Molecular Weight Distribution of the samples (obtained by the ?-method) and different rheological parameters were used for this purpose. Results revealed the power of bio-materials to rejuvenate RA bitumen, showing their capability to be used as fresh binders in high-RA content mixtures., El interés en la utilización de bio-materiales en ingeniería de pavimentos ha crecido significantemente en las últimas décadas debido a la conciencia ambiental sobre el uso de recursos naturales no renovables. En este artículo, se utilizan bio-materiales para recuperar las propiedades iniciales del betún envejecido presente en mezclas con alto contenido de asfalto reciclado (RA). Para ello, se ha estudiado y comparado el comportamiento de dos bio-materiales con betunes convencionales y betunes modificados con polímeros. Con este objetivo, se fabricaron mezclas de bio-materiales y betún reciclado simulando mezclas asfálticas con 50% de contenido de reciclado. El efecto rejuvenecedor de los bio-materiales se ha evaluado y comparado con el efecto rejuvenecedor de ligantes convencionales mediante el cálculo de las distribuciones de peso molecular aparente y diferentes parámetro reológicos. Los resultados muestran el poder rejuvenecedor de los bio-materiales, poniendo de manifiesto su potencial para usarse como ligantes vírgenes en mezclas asfálticas con alto contenido de reciclado.