Speaker
Description
Abstract. In the past, Montmorillonite K10 (MMT K10), an acid-activated clay, was successfully used as a raw material to synthesize zeolite-like warm-mix asphalt (WMA) additive. The major objective of this research was to synthesize a foaming zeolite with bentonite as an alternative to MMT K10 and assess the physicochemical characteristics of additive through fundamental and advanced binder tests on virgin and rubber-modified binders. Fundamental binder consistency tests revealed that the additive modification resulted in stiffer binders, which could offer higher resistance to rutting at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the asphalt mix-tures produced with the WMA additive-based asphalt cement demonstrated a reduction of compaction temperature by 6 C compared to the virgin and rubber-modified mixtures. The WMA additive-based binders offered more resistance to rutting when subjected to traffic loads and elevated tempera-tures as the failure temperatures were higher compared to virgin and rubber-modified binders. Morphological analysis of the synthesized additive con-firmed the presence of hexagonal shaped particles whereas thermal analysis confirmed the release of water into the binder from 70-200 C, consequen-tial of decreasing the viscosity of the binder and production temperatures. Overall, the replacement of MMT K10 with bentonite indeed improved rhe-ological parameters over the conventional binders and mixtures while also being an economical alternative to MMT K10.
