Measuring the Effect of Moisture on Asphalt–Aggregate Bond with the Bitumen Bond Strength Test

Abstract

Understanding moisture damage mechanisms in asphalt pavements and evaluating the right combination of materials that are resistant to moisture damage are important. Moisture damage is the loss of strength or stiffness in asphalt mixtures caused by a combination of mechanical loading and moisture. Many test methods have been developed to evaluate loss of adhesion and cohesion in binders. However, a simple procedure to address moisture damage in the asphalt–aggregate interface is not available. The feasibility of the newly developed bitumen bond strength (BBS) test for moisture damage characterization was investigated. An experimental matrix that included various binders, modifications, and aggregates to account for the chemical and physical conditions in the aggregate–asphalt interface was completed. A statistical analysis was performed to verify reproducibility of the BBS test. The results indicated that the bond strength of asphalt–aggregate systems was highly dependent on modification and moisture exposure time. Polymers were found to improve the adhesion between asphalt and aggregate as well as the cohesion within the binder. Results from this study indicated that the BBS test was repeatable and reproducible. To further validate the effectiveness of the BBS test, a comparison of the BBS test results and the modified dynamic shear rheometer strain sweep test was conducted. The comparison showed that the BBS test could rank materials similarly to a more sophisticated and time-consuming test.

Molecular dynamics study of interfacial mechanical behavior between asphalt binder and mineral aggregate

“…In general, the higher the strain rate was applied, the greater the peak stress value was obtained. These trends are consistent with the cohesive law that was obtained from the pull-off strength test of asphalt-aggregate interface conducted at the macroscopic scale [7].…”

“…Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to investigate the interfacial interaction and adhesion strength between asphalt binders and mineral surfaces [4,5]. Dynamic Mechanics Analyzer (DMA) testing [6] and Dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) testing [7] were carried out to characterize the adhesion bond strength and adhesion fatigue performance of asphalt concrete composites under shear loading. Pull-off tests were performed by pneumatic adhesion tensile testing instrument (PATTI) and universal testing machine (UTM) to study the interface tension failure between asphalt and aggregate with and without moisture [8,9].…”

Effect of Warm Mix Chemical Additives on the Binder-Aggregate Bond Strength and High-Service Temperature Performance of Asphalt Mixes Containing Electric Arc Furnace Steel Slag

“…More details concerning testing instrumentation and procedure are given elsewhere (Canestrari et al 2010;Moraes et al 2011;Pasquini et al 2014).…”

Characterisation and modelling of vapour-conditioned asphalt binders using nanoindentation

“…For many years, many researchers have extensively investigated moistureinduced damage. Moisture sensitivity of both compacted and loose asphalt concrete (AC) mixes with and without additives are determined using laboratory tests (Little n.d., Graf 1986, Aschenbrener 1995, Shah 2003, Bhasin et al 2006, Arambula et al 2007, Copeland 2007, Khattak and Kyatham 2008, Partl et al 2008, Scholz and Rajendran 2009, Moraes et al 2011. In recent years, full-scale AC pavements have been investigated to determine the effectiveness of using additives in AC to reduce moisture-induced damage (Al-Qadi et al 2014).…”