Improved dynamic mechanical properties of sustainable bio-modified asphalt using agriculture waste

In this research, a mixture of three agriculture waste fibres, for the first time, was used as biomodifier after alkali treatment, for enhancing the performance of asphalt binder as 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt%. The physical properties of the novel biomodified binder including penetration, softening point and penetration index were studied. The viscoelastic behavior was investigated by studying flow properties at different shear rates using rotational viscometer. Also, the mechanical characteristics of biomodified asphalt binder were studied using DMA through a series of three types of sweep tests conducted on virgin and biomodified asphalt samples to study the effects of time, temperature and frequency on binder performance. It is observed that the biomodified asphalt binder exhibits the same thixotropic hardening over time with high grade temperature and high rutting resistance. Fatigue parameter (loss modulus) obtained from DMA data was employed to estimate the fatigue resistance of biomodified binder. The results declared that loss modulus of samples were decreased, which proved that the fatigue property was enhanced with biomodifier addition. The biomodifier supports asphalt binder with better properties, and can be applied as a partial replacement for the non-renewable asphalt binders used in the construction of road infrastructure.

Automated summary

In this research, a novel biomodifier made of a mixture of three agriculture waste fibres after alkali treatment was used for enhancing the performance of asphalt binder, showing significant improvements in fatigue resistance. This new biomodifier not only supports better properties of asphalt binder, but also can be used as a partial replacement for non-renewable asphalt binders in road infrastructure construction.