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Resilient Modulus and Dynamic Modulus of Warm Mix Asphalt Shu Wei Goh1 and Zhanping You2, P.E.
1

Ph.D. Student and Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,

Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA. Tel: (906)487-2528, Fax: (906)487-1620, Email: sgoh@mtu.edu
2

Tomasini Assistant Professor of Transportation Engineering and Associate Director of the

Transportation Materials Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA. Tel: (906)487-1059, Fax: (906)487-1620, Email: zyou@mtu.edu

ABSTRACT: Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) is produced at temperatures in the range of 30F to 100F (17C to 56C) lower than the traditional hot mix asphalt (HMA). It has a number of benefits including reducing energy consumption, emissions from burning fuels, and volatiles generated from the heated asphalt binder at the production plant at the paving site. Several technologies used in WMA are available today, such as synthetic zeolite (Aspha-min), Sasobit, Evotherm, and WAM-Foam. In this paper, the results of a laboratory evaluation of WMA made with synthetic zeolite were discussed. A control HMA mixture, WMA with 0.3% synthetic zeolite, and WMA with 0.5% synthetic zeolite were used in the test. Based on the tests conducted, it was found that the WMA mixture made with synthetic zeolite had a higher resilient modulus. For dynamic modulus test, WMA with 0.5% synthetic zeolite have a higher dynamic modulus. In addition, dynamic modulus for WMA compacted at 120C was significantly higher than the WMA compacted at 100C. Keywords: Warm Mix Asphalt, Dynamic Modulus, Superpave, Simple Performance Test, Synthetic Zeolite, Master Curve

INTRODUCTION The goals for Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) are to use the existing HMA plants and the existing standards of the HMA specifications, and to focus on dense graded mixes for wearing courses (FHWA. 2007). Europeans were using WMA technologies, which allowed significant reduction in the temperatures when

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asphalt mixes are produced and placed. A typical compaction temperature range is 250F (121C) to 275F (135C). Based on research done in Europe and North America, there are usually several technologies that have been used to produce WMA: 1) the addition of a synthetic zeolite called Aspha-Min during mixing at the plant to create a foaming effect in the binder; 2) a two-component binder system called WAM-Foam (Warm Asphalt Mix Foam) that introduces a soft and hard foamed binder at different stages during plant production; 3) the use of organic additives such as Sasobit, a Fischer-Tropsch paraffin wax; 4) the application of Asphaltan B, a low molecular weight esterified wax; 5)and, the use of Evotherm, a technology based on a chemistry package that includes additives to improve coating and workability, adhesion promoters, and emulsification agents (FHWA 2007). All those technologies reduce the viscosity of the asphalt binder at a given temperature and allow the aggregate to be fully coated at a lower temperature. They have a significant impact on pavement projects in and around non-attainment areas. It was reported that the manufacturers and materials suppliers indicated energy savings on the order of 30%, with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 30%. The mixture production and placement temperature could bring several cost, environmental, and performance benefits (Jones 2004, Goh et al. 2007, You and Goh 2008, Goh and You 2008). The advantages of the WMA are briefly summarized as: lower energy consumption (reduce fuel costs); reduce mixing and compaction temperature; early site opening; lower plant wear; slowed binder aging potential by reducing the temperatures; lower fumes and emissions; cool weather paving; improve workability; and an extend paving window. LITERAFTURE REVIEW Synthetic zeolite, often referred as Aspha-min, is a product of Eurovia Services GmBH Bottrop, Germany (Barthel et al. 2004), simplified as Eurovia. It is a manufactured synthetic zeolite (Sodium Aluminum Silicate), which has been hydro-thermally crystallized. Eurovia recommended adding synthetic zeolite at the rate of 0.3% of the mass of the mixture, which can result in a potential 54F (30C) reduction in temperature and decrease 30% in fuel energy consumption for typical HMA production. Eurovia stated that all commonly known asphalt and polymer-modified binders can be used with synthetic zeolite (Harrison and Christodulaki 2000; McKeon 2006). A laboratory study was conducted by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) to determine the applicability of synthetic zeolite to typical paving operations and environmental conditions (Hurley et al. 2006). The main results obtained from NCAT indicated that the additional synthetic zeolite has lowered the air void levels in the gyratory compactor, increased the potential of moisture damage, has lowered the TSR (Tensile Strength Ratio) as compared to the control mixture, and did not affect the resilient modulus and rutting potential.

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However, the resilient modulus decreased as the compaction temperature decreased and air void level increased, and the rut depth increased as the temperature decreased for all the factors in combination. A study on field performance of WMA was conducted at the NCAT test track (Prowell et al. 2007). The results indicated that both HMA and WMA sections showed excellent field performance in terms of rutting after the application of 515,333 ESALs in a 43 day period. Researchers (Wasiuddin et al. 2007) studied the rut depth and the rheological properties of binders WMA made with synthetic zeolite and Sasobit. The results show that synthetic zeolite did not give any beneficial effect in temperature reduction based on rotational viscometer. The rutting potential decreases with a decrease in mixing and compaction temperature for both Sasobit and synthetic zeolite mixture and no significant direct decrease in production temperature with synthetic zeolite. There are several synthetic zeolite comparison tests done by Eurovia. Results of the field test indicated that the synthetic zeolite section was comparable to the traditional HMA comparison section (BARTHEL et al. 2004). A field demonstration test was conducted by Hubbard Group at Orlando, Florida in February 2004 (McKeon 2006). The conclusions and recommendations drawn from Hubbard Group on adding the synthetic zeolite into the mixture are: 1) comparison of all laboratory tests is favorable with almost no change in volumetric properties and Marshall Stability; 2) the amperage meter dropped from 34amps to 32amps on the mix elevator, possibly indicating better workability in the warm mix asphalt; 3) the nuclear density was 2.8pcf ( 44.85Kg/m3) higher after initial compaction in the warm mix; 4) and, the lower temperature did not change the workability and the material texture was the same. Synthetic zeolite is a relatively new technology. Although it shows a significant promise in energy saving and emission reduction, currently there have been only a few laboratory experiments conducted. Further detailed studies and tests are needed to evaluate the performance of synthetic zeolite in terms of mixture volumetric design and asphalt binder properties. This paper will evaluate the volumetric Properties of WMA made with synthetic zeolite through indirect tension test and dynamic modulus test. SCOPE In this study, asphalt mixtures and WMA made with synthetic zeolite were discussed. The control mixture (HMA) and WMA mixture were prepared in the lab. The synthetic zeolite was added to the WMA mixture at the rate of 0.3% and 0.5% based on the total weight of the mixture. As discussed above, the objective in this study was to evaluate the asphalt mixture made with synthetic zeolite through the resilient modulus and the dynamic modulus test. The general test flow chart is illustrated as Figure 1.

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FIG. 1. The General Test Flow Chart for the Asphalt Mixtures

The control mixtures mixing and compacting temperatures (150C for mixing and 140C for compacting in this experiment) were evaluated through the viscosity-temperature chart. In this study, two temperatures, 100C (212F) and 120C (216F) were chosen during the WMA compaction using a gyratory compactor. IDT Resilient Modulus Test The Indirect tension test was performed to find out the resilient modulus for both the control mixture and WMA mixture based on AASHTO T322-03. Tests were performed at 4 temperatures (i.e., 4C, 21.1C, 37.8C, and 54.4C). In this study, only the results of the resilient modulus tested at 4C were presented to show the effect of the synthetic zeolite on the asphalt mixtures resilient modulus. Figure 2 shows the resilient modulus tested at 4C for the control mixture and WMA mixture. Figure 2 indicated that the WMA has a slightly higher resilient modulus with 0.3% and 0.5% synthetic zeolite (Aspha-min) compacted at 100C and 120C than the control mixture compacted at 140C. The reason may be due to the different aggregate skeletons in the control mixture compacted at a high temperature (140C) and WMA compacted at lower temperatures (100C and 120C). The WMA was easy to compact to the desired air void levels at lower temperatures with the assistance of the additives. A stronger aggregate skeleton or aggregate-aggregate contacts in the asphalt mixture may increase the asphalt mixture modulus because of the better capability of the loads to transfer from one aggregate to another aggregate (You and Dai 2007).

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25000

20000 Resilient Modulus (MPa)

15000

10000

5000

0 Control 0.3% AM_100C 0.3%AM_120C 0.5% AM_100C 0.5% AM_120C Sample

FIG. 2. Resilient Modulus tested at 4C for Control Mixture Compacted at 140C and WMA Mixture Compacted at 100C and 120 C

NCAT indicated that two parameters (i.e., air void content and temperature) affect the resilient modulus (Hurley et al. 2006). In the tests shown here, the temperature affected the modulus: the resilient modulus increases when the compacting temperature increases and the air void level decreases. However, Figure 2 shows there were no significant effect on the resilient modulus for WMA mixtures under two different compacting temperatures. When a paired t-test is applied for the dataset of both 0.3% and 0.5% additives tested at a given temperature, there is no significant difference in the resilient modulus between the two compaction temperatures under a 95% confidence level. DYNAMIC MODULUS TEST The purpose of the Dynamic Modulus test is to find out the dynamic modulus, |E*| of asphalt mixture. E* is the ratio of stress to strain under sinusoidal loading conditions. The greatest advantage of the dynamic modulus (E*) is that it can be used in developing a series of prediction models through Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (M-EPDG). In this paper, the dynamic modulus test was performed and was conducted according to AASHTO TP62-03. The temperatures used to measure E* are -5C, 4C, 21.1C, and 39.2C (37.8C for control mixture). The frequencies used in this test were 0.1Hz, 0.5Hz, 1Hz, 5Hz, 10Hz, and 25Hz. Five types of mixture were use: a control mixture, 0.3% synthetic zeolite mixture compacted at 100C and 120C, and 0.5% synthetic zeolite mixture compacted at 100C and 120C. The recoverable axial

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micro-strain in this test was adjusted to the value in between 50 and 100 so that the material is in viscoelastic range.

100000 Control 0.3% AM_100C 0.3% AM_120C 0.5% AM_100C 0.5%AM_120 0.5%AM_120 0.5% AM_100C 0.3% AM_100C Control 0.3% AM_120C 0.5% AM_120C 0.3% AM_100C
Dynamic Modulus (MPa)

-5C

0.5% AM_100C Control 0.3% AM_120C 10000 0.5% AM_120C 0.5% AM_100C Control 0.3% AM_120C 0.3% AM_100C

4C

21.1C

1000 0.1 1 Frequency (Hz) 10 100

FIG. 3. Dynamic Modulus Results for Control Mixture and WMA Mixture

The results of the dynamic modulus test are presented in Figures 3. A note for the graph is: Control is the control mixture, 0.3% AM_100C and 0.3%AM_120C are the WMA with 0.3% synthetic zeolite compacted at 100C and 120C respectively, and 0.5% AM_100C and 0.5% AM_120C are the WMA with 0.5% synthetic zeolite compacted at 100C and 120C respectively. Through Figure 3, it was observed that the mixtures with the additional 0.5% synthetic zeolite have a higher E* value. Figure 3 also indicated that WMA compacted at 120C has a higher E* when a paired t-test is used. This indicated

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that WMA made with synthetic zeolite has a better performance in terms of rutting distress compared to control mixture. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Due to the benefits of the use of WMA in reducing energy consumption and lowering emissions and volatiles, the market for this new technology will likely be very promising. This paper presented the results of a laboratory evaluation of WMA made with synthetic zeolite. For the resilient modulus under the indirect tension test setup, the resilient modulus of asphalt mixture increased slightly when the synthetic zeolite was added. Probably, this is due to the different aggregate skeletons in the control mixture compacted at a high temperature (140C) and WMA compacted at lower temperatures (100C and 120C). In addition, there were no significant differences for the resilient modulus of WMA mixtures under two different compacting temperatures. Through the dynamic modulus test, E* was found to have a higher value when 0.5% of synthetic zeolite was added into the mixture compared with the rest of the mixtures. In addition, WMA compacted at 120C has a higher E* compared to WMA compacted at 100C. Several recommendations are given based upon the preliminary laboratory evaluation: 1) a life cycle cost analysis should be performed to evaluate whether synthetic zeolite will give any economic saving for pavements; 2) the long term field performance should be monitored; 3) a guideline of the design, construction, and maintenance of WMA is needed for successful field applications. REFERENCES

Barthel, W., Marchand, J.-P., and Devivere, M. V. "Warm Asphalt mixes By Adding A Synthetic Zeolite." Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress 2004 Proceedings. Goh, S.W. and You, Z. (2008). Mechanical Properties of Warm Mix Asphalt Using Aspha-min, Proceedings of 2008 Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington, D. C., USA, January 13-17 [CD-ROM], 21 p. Goh, S.W., Z. You, and T.J. Van Dam (2007). Laboratory Evaluation and Pavement Design for Warm Mix Asphalt. in 2007 Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium. 2007. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa [CD-ROM], 11p. FHWA (2007). "Highway Statistics 2000." Office of Highway Policy Information, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C. Harrison, T., and Christodulaki, L. (2000). "Innovative processes in asphalt production and application - strengthening asphalt's position in helping build a better world." First International Conference of Asphalt Pavement,

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Sydney. Hurley, G.C., B.D. Prowell, G. Reinke, P. Joskowicz, R. Davis, J. Scherocman, S. Brown, X. Hongbin, and D. Bonte. Evaluation of Potential Processes for Use in Warm Mix Asphalt. Journal of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Vol. 75, P. 41-90, published by the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologist, White Bear Lake, MN 55110, United States. Jones, W. (2004). "Warm Mix Asphalt Pavement." Asphalt Institute. McKeon, B., Aspha-min in warm asphalt mixes. 2006: Presentation at 51st Annual Convention of the National Asphalt Pavement Association. Lanham, Maryland. Prowell, B. D., Hurley, G. C., and Crews, E. (2007). "Field Performance of Warm-Mix Asphalt at the NCAT Test Track." Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting, CD-ROM, Washington DC, United States. Wasiuddin, N. M., Selvamohan, S., Zaman, M. M., and Guegan, M. L. T. A. (2007). "A Comparative Laboratory Study of Sasobit and Aspha-min in Warm-Mix Asphalt." Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting, Washington DC, United States. You, Z., and Dai, Q. (2007). "A Review of Advances in Micromechanical Modeling of Aggregate-Aggregate Interaction in Asphalt Mixture." Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering /Rev. can. gnie civ., 34(2), 239-252. You, Z. and Goh, S.W. (2008), Laboratory Evaluation of Warm Mix Asphalt: A Preliminary Study, International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, 1(1): 2008, ISSN 1996-6814.

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