ENHANCING ASPHALT RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR AND AGING SUSCEPTIBILITY USING BIO-CHAR AND NANO-CLAY

Abstract

The life expectancy of Asphalt Binder (AB) has been negatively impacted by the harsh bombardment of UV rays. UV rays cause asphalt to oxidize faster, which results in deterioration of asphalt rheological characteristics that can lead to pavement distresses. This study investigates the impact of bio-char and nano-clay of asphalt rheological properties. Two nano scale materials were used for this study were nano-clay and bio-char. Nano-clay (Cloisite 30B) is a naturally occurring inorganic mineral. Bio-char is the waste product from bio-binder production. Bio-binder is produced from swine manure using a thermochemical conversion process. This process is then followed by a filtration procedure where the bio-char is produced. Chemical and physical properties of bio-char showed a significant presence of carbon which could in turn enhance asphalt flow properties and reduce the rate of asphalt oxidation. In this study several mixtures are designed and evaluated using Rotational Viscometer testing (RV) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). Nano-clay is blended at 2 and 4% by weight, with and without bio-binder (5% by weight of dry mass). Bio-char is grinded to nano scale and added to the virgin asphalt binder (PG 64-22) at 2, 5 and 10% by weight. The study results showed that introduction of nano-clay could be effective in reducing temperature susceptibility of asphalt binder.