Construction and Building Materials 26 (2012) 583590

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Laboratory evaluation on high temperature viscosity and low temperature stiffness of asphalt binder with high percent scrap tire rubber
Hainian Wang a,, Zhanping You b,1, Julian Mills-Beale b,2, Peiwen Hao a,3
a b

Highway School, Changan University, South Erhuan Middle Section, Xian, Shaanxi, 710064, China Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295, United States

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
The objective of this research is to utilize crumb rubber from scrap tires as an environmental friendly and sustainable additive for enhancing the high temperature and low temperature rheological properties of asphalt binders for asphalt pavements. Two different crumb rubber sources with different gradations ne and coarse were used in this project. The crumb rubber-modied (CRM) binder was produced by adding 10, 15, 20 and 25% crumb rubber particles by weight of a Superpave PG 64-22 asphalt binder. The CRM binders with and without Rolling Thin Film Oven (RTFO) aging were characterized by the AASHTO rotational viscosity test at 135, 140, 150, 160, 170, 177, and 190 C (AASHTO T316). Furthermore, the low temperature cracking resistance of the binders was evaluated using the AASHTO Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) test procedure at 12 and 18 C (AASHTO T313). The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to quantify the effect of the inuencing factors such as temperature, rubber particle size, and rubber concentration on the CRM binders performance. From the laboratory tests and ANOVA results in this study, it is evident that the addition of crumb rubber into asphalt binder can both significantly improve the viscosity of binder at high temperature and lower the creep stiffness at low temperature, which is benecial to better both high temperature stability and low temperature cracking resistance of asphalt pavements. After RTFO aging, the viscosity decreases with increasing rubber concentration. Finer crumb rubber attains higher viscosity at high temperature and lower creep stiffness at low temperature. Considering the viscositytemperature relationship, RTFO aging effects, creep stiffness decreasing percentage, and economical factors, 15% to 20% rubber asphalt ratio is proposed for the production of CRM binder. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 6 November 2010 Received in revised form 23 May 2011 Accepted 18 June 2011 Available online 12 July 2011 Keywords: Asphalt rubber Rotational viscosity Creep stiffness Laboratory test RTFO aging Rubber concentration

1. Introduction With the motor industry developing and spreading at a higher pace in all parts of the world, high amount of scrap tires were produced every year, which makes the disposal of tires a serious environmental problem [1]. Crumb rubber, which is obtained from the grinding of scrap tires, has proved to be an efcient solution to the environmental concerns surrounding the accumulation of waste tires in recent years [2,3]. The benecial use of crumb rubber into virgin asphalt binder and pavements provides an environmentally sustainable method of disposing of the millions of tires generated annually [4].

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 82334824.

E-mail addresses: wanghainian@yahoo.com.cn (H. Wang), zyou@mtu.edu (Z. You), jnmillsb@mtu.edu (J. Mills-Beale), haopw@yahoo.com.cn (P. Hao). 1 Tel.: +1 906 487 1059. 2 Tel.: +1 906 487 2528. 3 Tel.: +86 29 82334427. 0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.06.061

The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) denes asphalt rubber (AR) as a blend of asphalt cement, reclaimed tire rubber and certain additives, in which the rubber component is at least 15% by weight of the total blend and has reacted in the hot asphalt cement sufciently to cause swelling of the rubber particles, [5]. Researchers have shown that the addition of crumb rubber into virgin asphalt can produce asphalt rubber binders with better resistance to rutting, fatigue cracking and thermal cracking as well as reducing the thickness of asphalt overlays and potential reective cracking [6,7]. The asphalt rubber acts in slurry and chip seal materials as a stress absorbing membrane while demonstrating good anti-fatigue and durability performance in eld applications [8,9]. The addition of crumb rubber into virgin asphalt induces a signicant increase in binder viscosity. As the viscous property of asphalt rubber is critical to mixture compaction temperature and binder workability during storage and pumping process, the viscosity of asphalt rubber has been the central focus in previous research work [10,11]. Lougheed and Papagiannakis

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H. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 26 (2012) 583590 3. Experimental program 3.1. Materials Two particle size crumb rubber materials cryogenically produced from different sources in China were adopted in this paper. Fig. 1 shows the percent passing gradation of Crumb Rubber A (Rubber A) and Crumb Rubber B (Rubber B). Five rubber asphalt concentrations, 0%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight of asphalt, were used in this study. A Superpave PG 6422 binder was used as the control binder in this study. This binder was obtained from a construction site near Detroit in Michigan and met the MDOT specication requirements. Table 1 shows the properties of control PG 64-22 binder. Two sources of cryogenic ne crumb rubber were added to the virgin PG 64-22 binder to produce the CRM binders. The basic properties of the crumb rubber are shown in Table 2. 3.2. Experimental plan The detailed experimental plan is indicated in Fig. 2. The plan sums up the material preparation, Superpave characterization and evaluation of the CRM binders. 3.3. Sample preparation The crumb rubber was added gradually into the asphalt binder at a reaction temperature of 350 F (177 C), and mixed mechanically for about 45 min. The reaction time of 45 min was considered adequate based on some preliminary literature

Passing Percentage (%)

adopted the Brookeld viscometer to test the viscosity of three virgin and six rubber-modied asphalt binders [12]. Their samples contained crumb rubber concentrations of 3%, 5%, 7%, 12% and 18% by weight of the virgin binder. Notable among their conclusions was the introduction of the concept of stabilized viscosity. Stabilized viscosity is the phenomenon whereby the viscosity of the rubber-modied asphalt will decrease to a stabilized value after approximately 4575 min of blending; with the exact stabilized time dependent on the crumb rubber concentration. West et al. evaluated the effect of the tire rubber grinding method on AR binder properties and characteristics, and they found a good correlation between the grinding process of crumb rubber and the viscosity and storage settlement. Crumb rubber with greater specic surface areas and more irregular shapes can induce high viscosity conditions in asphalt rubber binder [13]. Lee et al. adopted the gel permeation chromatography (GPC), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and rotational viscosity (RV) to characterize control binder, SBS-modied binder and rubber-modied binder of two short-term aging method, rolling thin lm oven (RTFO) aging and short-term oven aging (STOA) [14]. According to their tests, increased aging time will cause an increase in viscosity at high temperatures for the control and SBS-modied binders. It should be noted however that there was no clear trend in the viscosity change for the rubber-modied binder with and without aging. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) techniques have been used to evaluate the effect of crumb rubber characteristics, including rubber sources and rubber concentration, on crumb rubber-modied (CRM) binder viscosity [15]. Their tests proposed that the CRM type and sources plays an obvious role in inuencing the viscous properties of the CRM binder. Statistical regression and neural network approaches have been applied to predict the viscosities of different rubber type CRM binders with different concentrations and proposed an efcient way to estimate the viscous properties of different variables such as asphalt binder grade, binder source, test temperature, rubber content and rubber source [16]. With the aid of the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), rotational viscometer and the GPC, interaction effects such as blending time, temperature and rubber content of CRM binders were investigated in research conducted by Jeong et al. [17]. Their work proved that longer blending time and higher blending temperature result in a higher viscosity of CRM binders. Previous research investigations have focused on viscous properties of CRM binders from different aspects and this was benecial to understand the different inuence factors and their effects on the performance of CRM binders. It must be emphasized that the aging effect on the viscosity of binders containing different CRM concentrations and at different temperatures still need a thorough study. Additionally, it is pertinent to focus on the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders to investigate the relationship between low temperature stiffness and thermal cracking of CRM mixture pavements. These areas of study have received less attention in past and current studies.

Table 1 The properties of virgin asphalt. Aging states naged binder Test properties Rotational viscosity @ 135 C (Pa s) G = sin d @ 64 C (kPa) G = sin d @ 64 C (kPa) G sin d @25 C (kPa) Stiffness @ 12 C (MPa) m-value @ 12 C Testing results 0.435 1.412 3.69 1171 189 0.314

RTFO aged residue RTFO + PAV aged residue

Table 2 Properties of the crumb rubber materials. Property Specic gravity (g/m ) Moisture content (%) Ash content (%) Acetone to mention oil complex (%) Fiber content (%) Metal content (%) Carbon black content (%)
3

Rubber A 1.12 0.56 3.6 8.9 0.1 0 32.7

Rubber B 1.14 0.65 4.3 10.2 0.05 0 35.4

100
Rubber A Rubber B

80

60

40

2. Objective and scope The objective of this research is to utilize crumb rubber from scrap tires as an environmental friendly and sustainable additive for enhancing the rheological properties of asphalt binders. The focus was to investigate the viscous property of CRM binders with and without RTFO aging at different test temperatures, and also test the low temperature creep stiffness of CRM binders with different rubber concentrations.

20

0 0.075 0.15 0.3 0.425 0.6 0.85 1.18

Sievesize (mm)
Fig. 1. The passing percent gradation of Crumb Rubbers A and B.

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585

PG 64-22 Asphalt Binder

Virgin asphalt

Rubber modified asphalt

Unaged

RTFOT

RTFOT +PAV

Source A

Source B

Rotational Viscosity

Rotational Viscosity

BBR @ -18C & -12C

10%

15%

20%

25%

Same testing procedures as Virgin asphalt

Same testing procedures as Virgin asphalt

Same testing Same testing Same testing procedures as procedures as procedures as Source A Virgin asphalt Virgin asphalt

Fig. 2. Experimental plan for the CRM binder tests.

8 4 2

0% 10% 15% 20% 25%

8 4 2

0% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Viscosity (Pa.s)

Viscosity (Pa.s)

1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625

1 0.5 0.25 0.125

Rubber A

0.0625 0.03125

Rubber B

0.03125

140

160

180

200

140

160

180

200

Temperature ( )

Temperature ( )

Fig. 3. Viscosities of unaged CRM binders (Rubber A on left; Rubber B on right).

reviewing indicating that the CRM binder could reach the highest viscosity at this time [12,18]. After 45 min reaction time, the CRM binder was tested under the Brookeld viscometer at seven different temperature conditions 190, 177, 170, 160, 150, 140, and135 C. A 25% torque was applied and the rotation speed was set at 100 rpm. The #29 spindle was adopted in the tests in favor of the #27 spindle due to the high viscosity of CRM binders. Both unaged and RTFO-aged CRM binders were tested to evaluate their viscosity. The viscosity test followed the AASHTO T 316 standard test specication. Furthermore, the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders was evaluated at 12 and 18 C using the BBR test equipment according to the AASHTO T 313 standard test specication. Three replicates were conducted in both rotational viscosity and BBR and the average rest values were applied in the subsequent discussion.

4. Results and discussion 4.1. High temperature viscosity The inuence of rubber types, rubber concentration, test temperature, and aging effect on the viscosity of CRM binders is discussed in this section. Figs. 3 and 4 show the viscosity graphical

plots for the unaged and RTFO-aged CRM binders, respectively. It is clear that the viscosity of CRM binder at any rubber concentration decreases with increasing test temperature, with the same trend holding true for the non-modied asphalt. The addition of crumb rubber can greatly increase the binder viscosity, which is vital in increasing the binder lm thickness for coating aggregates in the hot mixture. Ultimately, the more viscous CRM binder will maintain the stability of asphalt mixtures. With increasing percentage of crumb rubber, the binder viscosity increases at each test temperature. The most remarkable increase in viscosity occurs when the rubber content is increasing from 0% to 10%, and with the continual increase in rubber content, the overall viscosity increasing amplitude experiences a little decrease for the two CRM binders at unaged or RTFO-aged condition. The Superpave specication (AASHTO M 320) requires that the maximum viscosity of asphalt binder is no greater than 3 Pa s at 135 C for the convenience of storage and pumping in construction period. However, it is difcult to follow this requirement for CRM

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binders. If the CRM binders reach 3 Pa s viscosity for rubber B modied binder, their temperature need to increase to 147, 162, and 174 C for 15%, 20%, and 25% rubberasphalt ratio binder, respectively. The normal requirement of 3 Pa s is thus not feasible for high percent CRM binder. Thus, the storage, blending and rolling temperature of asphalt mixtures with high percent CRM binder need to be heated to higher temperature in construction, respectively. The exact optimal temperatures of CRM binders are subject to viscositytemperature curves, which may be inuenced by the rubber characteristics, rubber concentration and asphalt binder. To better understand the inherent relationship between each inuencing factor and their effects on the viscosity of CRM binders, the regression between the viscosity and the test temperature for CRM binders was studied here and could be presented as:

logV a T b

where V is the viscosity of the CRM binder; T, the test temperature; a and b, the regression parameters. The slope coefcient a represents the changing rate of binder viscosity with the test temperature. The relationship was developed based on research investigations by [16,19]. Tables 3 and 4 illustrate the regression parameters

between the viscosity and test temperatures at different rubber asphalt ratio for CRM binders with and without RTFO aging, respectively. R2 is the correlation coefcient of the regression. From the R2 values in Tables 3 and 4, Formula 1 characterizes well the good correlation between the viscosity and test temperature for both CRM binders with and without RTFO. The absolute value of a increased about 10% and 5%, from 10% to 20% rubber asphalt ratio, for rubber A and rubber B binders, respectively. For the unaged CRM binder, as the rubber asphalt ratio increases until to 20%, the viscosity decrease rate is increasing with the increasing of test temperature. For the both RTFO-aged CRM binders, the largest absolute a value occurred at 15% rubber asphalt ratio. A bigger absolute value for a is desired for the CRM binders as it will be benecial to have a relatively low viscosity at high temperature for construction workability of the CRM binders and have a greater viscosity at relatively low temperature for rutting resistance and high temperature stability of rubber asphalt mixture. Among the many inuencing factors on the viscosity of CRM binder, the test temperature is one of those most important. However, different states and countries may have different requirements on the viscosity test temperature for CRM binders.

8 4 2

0% 10% 15% 20% 25%

8 4 2

0% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Viscosity (Pa.s)

Viscosity (Pa.s)

1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625 140 160 180 200

1 0.5 0.25

Rubber A

0.125 0.0625

Rubber B

140

160

180

200

Temperature ( )

Temperature ( )

Fig. 4. Viscosities of RTFO aged CRM binders (Rubber A on left; Rubber B on right).

Table 3 Regression parameters for viscosities of unaged CRM binders. Rubber asphalt ratio (%) Rubber A a 10 15 20 25 0.01468 0.01604 0.01625 0.01292 b 2.16155 2.73542 3.04589 2.48987 R
2

Rubber B a 0.01526 0.01559 0.01604 0.01412 b 2.22813 2.77321 3.10298 2.93286 R2 0.996 0.999 0.999 0.999

0.997 0.999 0.999 0.999

Table 4 Regression parameters for viscosities of RTFO-aged CRM binders. Rubber asphalt ratio (%) Rubber A a 10 15 20 25 0.01595 0.01605 0.01545 0.01553 b 2.56664 2.8533 2.9974 2.85271 R2 0.998 0.999 0.999 0.999 Rubber B a 0.01562 0.01637 0.01429 0.01408 b 2.54588 3.04484 2.90593 2.91606 R2 0.998 0.999 0.999 0.999

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Arizona, Texas and ASTM assigned 177 C in their specications, while California and South Africa set 190 C in the viscosity testing, other than normal 135 C for regular binders [20,21]. The 177 and 190 C test temperature were taken out to analyze their effects on the viscosities of both CRM binders with and without RTFO aging, and were shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. It can be observed that the crumb rubber size have an obvious inuence on the high temperature viscosity of CRM binders. Rubber B is ner than Rubber A, and its modied binder has a higher viscosity than Rubber A whether with or without RTFO aging. For the unaged CRM binders, there is no remarkable difference between Rubbers A and B modied binder at 10% rubber asphalt ratio, and the difference increases to 71% and 60% at 25% rubber asphalt ratio for 177 and 190 C test temperatures, respectively. The ner crumb rubber has a greater surface area and therefore reacted and swelled efciently during the blending process. As a result, the ner crumb rubber reached a higher viscosity with the same rubber asphalt ratio. The 85 min RTFO aging also has a notable effect on the viscosity of CRM binders. With increasing rubber concentration, the percent improvement in CRM binder viscosity after RTFO aging begins to decrease. For Rubber A binder at a test temperature of 177 C, the viscosity improving percentage decreases from 75% (0% rubber) to 42% (10% rubber), and further to 34% (15% rubber) and then to 21% (20% rubber), and -21% (25% rubber). During the aging process,

3.0
10% 15% 20% 25% Test Temperature 177 C
o

2.72 2.59 2.34

2.5

Viscosity (Pa.s)

2.0
1.59 1.50

1.81

1.87

1.5
1.02

1.40 1.25 1.03

1.0

0.76 0.54 0.59 0.36

0.5 0.38

the aromatic oil and light fractions contents decrease in the asphalt binder and this induces a greater binder viscosity. With the addition of crumb rubber into asphalt at high temperatures, the rubber particle will absorb the aromatic oil and light fractions in the asphalt and swell in size to induce a higher viscosity. With increasing rubber concentration in the CRM binder, the percentage of free aromatic and light fractions will decrease, and the actual effect of RTFO aging will also decrease. When the rubber asphalt ratio reaches 25%, the viscosity of RTFO-aged binder is even smaller than that of unaged binder. This is not benecial for long term storage of the rubber asphalt after modifying, and could ultimately deteriorate the eld performance. It is noticed that, at the temperatures less than 170 C, the 20% Rubber A binder has higher viscosity value than 25% Rubber A binder. The possible reason could be elaborated as following. The viscosity test on CRM binder is conducted from high temperature (190 C) to low temperature (135 C) using rotational viscometer in the laboratory. The accumulated long time temperature controlling and equilibration period may induce some potential aging on the binder and due to the aforementioned decreasing of free aromatic and light fraction content, and result in the lower viscosity of 25% CRM binder at the temperature less than 170 C. However, this effect may also be subjected to the crumb rubber source, and more SEM tests could provide detailed explanation on this mechanism in the future. The viscosity improving effect is also inuenced by the crumb rubber concentration in the rubber asphalt binders. With the increasing of rubber concentration, the viscosity improving percentage shows a decreasing trend. Take unaged Rubber B binder tested at 190 C as an example, the viscosity is increased 433% from 0% to 10% rubber asphalt ratio, 183% from 10% to 15% rubber asphalt ratio, 74% from 15% to 20% rubber asphalt ratio, and 61% from 20% to 25% rubber asphalt ratio. With increasing rubber concentration in the CRM binder, the percentage of free aromatic and light fractions will decrease, which induces a smaller viscosity improving effect. It should be also noted that, with the increasing of high temperature viscosity of CRM binder, it will induce the difculty of pumping, reduce its workability, and raise the heat energy consumption in construction. From these two aspects, the 25% rubber asphalt ratio is not proposed for eld application.

0.0

A UNAGED

A RTFO

B UNAGED

B RTFO

4.2. ANOVA analysis on high temperature viscosity The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to investigate the high temperature viscosity of CRM binders as a function of test temperature and rubber concentration and the results are summarized in Table 5. For both Rubber A and Rubber B binder, the F value is greater than its F critical value and the P-value is smaller than the signicance level of 0.05. The ANOVA data indicates that both the test temperature and rubber concentration have signicant effect on the viscosity of CRM binders. In order to thoroughly compare the viscosity of CRM binders at different rubber concentration, the one-factor ANOVA was adopted to evaluate if the viscosities of adjacent rubber concentration CRM binders have signicant difference, as shown in Table 6. The ANOVA data shows that with the increasing of rubber concentration up to 20%, the rubber concentration has a signicant inuence on the viscosity of CRM binder, as the F value is greater than its correspondent F critical value and P-value is smaller than 0.05. However, there is no signicant difference between the viscosities of 20% and 25% rubber concentration for both Rubber A and Rubber B CRM binder. From the cost-effective viewpoint of viscosity increasing performance and increasing cost on crumb rubber, it is also not suggested to apply the rubber concentration to more than 20%.

Fig. 5. Viscosity comparisons of Rubbers A and B modied asphalt at different concentration levels and 177 C test temperature.

2.0

1.90

Viscosity (Pa.s)

1.5

10% 15% 20% 25%

1.18 0.95

1.80 1.71

Test Temperature 190 C

o

1.28 1.18 0.97 0.90 0.72 0.68 0.43 0.24

1.0

0.54

0.5
0.25

0.39

0.0 A UNAGED A RTFO B UNAGED B RTFO

Fig. 6. Viscosity comparisons of Rubbers A and B modied asphalt at different concentration levels and 190 C test temperature.

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Table 5 Two-factor ANOVA on the viscosity of CRM binder (a = 0.05). Materials Rubber A Rubber B Source of variance Temperature Concentration Temperature Concentration SS(Pa s) 47.673 55.958 15.307 48.044 df 6 4 4 4 MS(Pa s) 7.946 13.989 3.827 12.011 F 8.7172 15.348 6.3269 19.858 P-value 4E05 2E06 0.003 5E06 F crit 2.508 2.776 3.007 3.007

Note: SS, the sum of squared deviations; df, the degree of freedom; MS, mean square; F, the F value; F crit, the F critical value.

4.3. Low temperature stiffness

200

189 189

The BBR test can be used to evaluate how much a binder deects or creeps under a constant load at low temperature. The creep stiffness obtained from BBR test can well characterize the cracking resistance of asphalt binder at low temperature. Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate the creep stiffness of A and B CRM binders with different rubber contents at 12 and 18 C test temperatures. The addition of crumb rubber into the asphalt greatly decreases the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders, which can increase the toughness of CRM mixtures and decrease the occurring possibility of the asphalt binder and pavement cracking at low temperature. For CRM A binder at 20% rubber asphalt ratio, its creep stiffness reduces to about 50% of the control binder at both 12 and 18 C test temperatures. Additionally, with increasing rubber concentration, the creep stiffness decreases for both CRM binders at both 12 and 18 C test temperatures. The crumb rubber is not as temperature sensitive as the asphalt binder, and has lower modulus and stiffness than the asphalt binder at low temperature. As a result, the increasing rubber content will induce lower creep stiffness for CRM binders at low temperature. Superpave specication (AASHTO M 320) requires the creep stiffness to be less than 300 MPa and m-value to be greater than 0.300 at the test temperature during the performance grading of the asphalt binder. The research mainly focuses on the creep stiffness of CRM binders to characterize their low temperature cracking performance. The control PG 6422 binder meets this requirement at 12 C but fails at 18 C. With the addition of crumb rubber, both CRM binders can denitely meet the criteria at 18 C even at 10% rubber asphalt ratio. Therefore, the addition of crumb rubber decreased the low temperature grade from 22 C to 28 C compared to the control binder. When the rubber asphalt ratio exceeds 15%, the percentage decrease in creep stiffness is not as remarkable as before. The creep stiffness decreases by 25% from control binder to the 10% rubber asphalt ratio binder, and by 27% from the 10% to 15% rubber asphalt ratio binder. Finally, it decreases by 9% from the 15% to 20% rubber asphalt ratio for Rubber A binder at 18 C. From this point, the highest rubber asphalt ratio, 25%, would be no suggested in eld application. The crumb rubber particle size also has some inuence on the creep stiffness of the CRM binder. For the CRM binders at both 12 and 18 C, Rubber B (ner size rubber) binder has less creep stiffness than Rubber A binder. This may be due to a more efcient

Rubber A Rubber B
145 142 112 101 90 77 60 85

Testing Temperature -12 C

o

Stiffness (MPa)

150

100

50

0 0 10 15 20 25

Rubber asphalt ratio (%)

Fig. 7. Low temperature stiffness obtained by BBR tests on of Rubbers A and B (12 C).

400
356 356

350 300
266

Rubber A Rubber B Testing Temperature -18 C

200 193 181 176 168 153 135
o

Stiffness (MPa)

250 200 150 100 50 0 0 10 15 20

25

Rubber asphalt ratio (%)

Fig. 8. Low temperature stiffness obtained by BBR tests on Rubbers A and B (18 C).

reaction between the ne crumb rubber and asphalt binder compared to the coarse crumb rubber and the asphalt binder.

Table 6 One-factor rubber concentration ANOVA on the viscosity of CRM binder (a = 0.05). Rubber concentration Rubber A F 0% vs 10% 10% vs 15% 15% vs 20% 20% vs 25% 17.418 13.022 12.862 2.7134 P-value 0.005856 0.01125 0.011554 0.150604 F crit 5.9874 5.9874 5.9874 5.9874 Rubber B F 15.6694 15.2241 13.3954 2.41051 P-value 0.0075 0.008 0.0106 0.1844 F crit 5.9874 5.9874 5.9874 5.9874

Note: F, the F value; F crit, the F critical value.

H. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 26 (2012) 583590 Table 7 Two-factor ANOVA on the low temperature stiffness of CRM binder (a = 0.05). Test temperature 12 C Source of variation Rubber type Concentration Interaction Rubber type Concentration Interaction SS (MPa) 791.05 54866.07 581.68 3286.53 166566.47 4119.80 df 1 4 4 1 4 4 MS (MPa) 791.05 13716.52 145.42 3286.53 41641.62 1029.95 F 9.25 160.31 1.70 10.14 128.43 3.18 P-value 0.006 0.000 0.190 0.005 0.000 0.036

589

F crit 4.35 2.87 2.87 4.35 2.87 2.87

18 C

Note: SS, the sum of squared deviations; df, the degree of freedom; MS, mean square; F, the F value; F crit, the F critical value.

Table 8 One-factor rubber concentration ANOVA on the low temperature stiffness of CRM binder (a = 0.05). Rubber concentration 12 C F 0% vs 10% 10% vs 15% 15% vs 20% 20% vs 25% 158.20 153.14 10.12 2.31 P-value 1.5E06 1.7E06 0.01297 0.16734 F crit 5.32 5.32 5.32 5.32 18 C F 73.50 15.24 10.73 7.41 P-value 0.000 0.005 0.011 0.026 F crit 5.32 5.32 5.32 5.32

Note: F, the F value; F crit, the F critical value.

ture curve. According to the ANOVA analysis on high temperature viscosity and low temperature stiffness, there is no signicant performance difference between 20% and 25% rubber concentration CRM binders. Meanwhile, the over excessive rubber concentration will also make the difculty of pumping, reduce the mixture workability, raise the heating energy consumption and increase the cost of rubber asphalt binder. Considering the all the factors above, 15 to 20% rubber asphalt ratio is suggested in the production of CRM binder. The optimum rubber concentration should be determined by considering the actual application elds and modifying demands, asphalt plant pumping and blending conditions, and other factors comprehensively, which is to be further investigated. 5. Conclusions

4.4. ANOVA analysis on low temperature stiffness The ANOVA was also applied to investigate the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders as a function of rubber type and rubber concentration at 12 and 18 C, respectively. The ANOVA analysis results are summarized in Table 7. For both 12 and 18 C test temperature, the F value is greater than its correspondent F critical value and the P-value is smaller than the signicance level of 0.05. The ANOVA data indicates that both the rubber type and rubber concentration have signicant effect on the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders. In order to thoroughly investigate the low temperature stiffness of CRM binders at different rubber concentration, the one-factor ANOVA was adopted to evaluate if the low temperature stiffness of adjacent rubber concentration CRM binders have signicant difference, as shown in Table 8. The ANOVA data shows that, for both 12 and 18 C test temperature, with the increasing of rubber concentration up to 20%, the rubber concentration has a signicant inuence on the low temperature stiffness of CRM binder, as the F value is greater than its correspondent F critical value and P-value is smaller than 0.05. However, its inuence impact (F value) is decreasing with the increasing of rubber concentration. Finally, there is no signicant difference between the low temperature stiffness of 20% and 25% rubber concentration. From the cost-effective viewpoint of low temperature stiffness decreasing performance and increasing cost on crumb rubber, it is also not suggested to apply the rubber concentration to more than 20%.

Two crumb rubber samples of different gradations ne and coarse were used in this project. Four rubber asphalt ratios were applied to prepare the CRM binders using Superpave PG 64-22 asphalt binder and the crumb rubber additives. Seven test temperatures were taken to evaluate the viscous properties of the CRM binders with and without RTFO aging. The BBR test was used to measure creep stiffness of both CRM binders at 12 and 18 C in this paper. The ANOVA technique was applied to quantify the effect of factors, such as test temperature, rubber type, rubber concentration, on the CRM binders performance. The test results obtained from this study can unveil some inherent correlations of each inuencing factor and the viscosity and creep stiffness of CRM binders and provide some guiding frameworks in determining the rubber constitutive design and construction parameters for CRM asphalt binders. Some preliminary conclusions that can be drawn from the research are: (1) The addition of crumb rubber into asphalt binder can significantly improve the viscosity of binders, which is benecial to enhance the high temperature performance of asphalt binders and mixture. The viscosity specication requirement of 3 Pa s is however not feasible for high percent CRM binder. (2) The addition of crumb rubber into asphalt binder can reduce the creep stiffness of CRM binder at low temperature which is helpful for better cracking resistance ability of asphalt binder and mixture. From the perspective of low temperature stiffness, the addition of 10% crumb rubber into control binder can lower a low temperature grade from 22 C to 28 C. (3) With increasing rubber concentration, the performance on high temperature viscosity and low temperature stiffness of CRM binders are improved, but its improving impact tends to decrease. ANOVA results indicate that there is no signicant performance difference on high temperature viscosity and low temperature stiffness between 20% and 25% rubber concentration CRM binders. (4) Finer crumb rubber can help achieve higher viscosity at high temperature and lower creep stiffness at low temperature.

4.5. Proper rubber asphalt ratio According to the rotational viscosity tests and bending beam rheometer tests on CRM binders conducted in this paper, it is clear that the addition of crumb rubber into pure asphalt can better both its high temperature viscosity and low temperature stiffness, which is desired and benecial to the better performance of rubber asphalt mixture. However, it should be also noted that, with the increasing of rubber concentration in the CRM binders, the modifying effects of viscosity and stiffness is decreasing. Based on the viscosity and temperature regression relationship, the 15% to 20% rubber asphalt ratio binders will have the greatest regression parameter, a, and induce the most desirable viscositytempera-

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(5) Considering the viscositytemperature relationship, RTFO aging effects, creep stiffness decreasing percentage and economical factors, 1520% rubber asphalt ratio is proposed for the production of CRM binder. However, further CRM binder and mixture tests will conrm its extensive laboratory performance.

Acknowledgement The research is supported by the funds of Natural Science Found Committee (NSFC) of China (No. 50808023) (No. 51011120574) and the Special Fund for Basic Scientic Research of Central Colleges, Changan University (CHD2010JC061). The experimental work was completed in the Transportation Materials Research Center at Michigan Technological University, which maintains the AASHTO Materials Reference Laboratory (AMRL) accreditation on asphalt and asphalt mixtures. Reference
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