is study intended to evaluate the use of waste stone sawdust filler with asphalt binders and compare the mechanical properties of the waste filler-asphalt mastic with those of the asphalt mastic produced using the typical limestone filler. e mastics were prepared at four filler-to-asphalt ratios by volume of asphalt binder: 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, and 0.30. A dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) strain-controlled frequency sweep test was used to evaluate the properties of the control asphalt binder and the mastics. e test used a constant strain of 10% and loading frequencies of 10, 5.6, 3.1, 1.78, 1.0, 0.56, 0.31, 0.178, and 0.1 Hz and was conducted at wide range of temperatures: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70°C. e test measured the complex shear modulus (G * ) value and the phase angle for the binder and the mastics. e findings of this study showed that the stone sawdust filler demonstrated higher resistance to fatigue and rutting behavior than the limestone filler. However, the elastic behavior of the two asphalt mastics was nearly similar and increased with the increase in volume ratio. It was also found that the best-fit model described the relationship between the volume ratio and each of |G * |/sin δ and |G * |cos δ, and the mastic-to-binder modulus ratio was the exponential model with high coefficient of determination (r 2 ). e differences in the G * value between the limestone filler and the stone sawdust filler were relatively insignificant particularly at low loading frequencies and high temperatures. Finally, the mastic-to-binder modulus ratio decreased with the increase in loading frequency.
BackgroundAlthough asphalt mixture is approximately composed of only 5% asphalt binder and the remaining is aggregate, the mechanical properties and behavior of asphalt binder affect significantly the properties of asphalt mixture and hence play a big role in the performance of asphalt pavements.e complexity of asphalt binder comes from the viscoelastic nature of this material. Its properties and behavior are time and temperature dependent. In addition, the mode of loading impacts this behavior. High stiffness and elastic behaviors are desired properties for asphalt binders used in hotmix asphalt design and production. High stiffness is required to resist rutting under heavy loads in pavements. On the other hand, elastic behavior is also needed to recover and heal part of the deformations in pavements under loading to minimize fatigue cracking. Researchers in the asphalt technology field have been always attempting to enhance and optimize properties of asphalt used in the pavement construction.Modification of asphalt binders is done by utilizing several modifiers that are available on a wide spectrum in the industry. Some of these modifiers are manufactured so that they are used in the asphalt technology at a feasible cost. However, other modifiers are waste or recycled materials that can be used in asphalt to serve twofold purpose: (1) enhancing the properties of asphalt and (2) helping to clean environment.