Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 225–235

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Construction and Building Materials

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l oc a t e / c o n b u i l d m a t

Properties of asphalt binder modified by corn stalk fiber

Zining Chen a, Junyan Yi a,⇑, Zhiguo Chen b, Decheng Feng a,⇑

a
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
b Jilin Provincial Transport Scientific Research Institute, Changchun 130102, China

highlights

The physical and mechanical behaviors of corn stalk fiber modified asphalt binder were studied. The addition of corn
stalk fiber will increase the high temperature performance of asphalt.
Corn stalk fiber can improve the temperature sensitivity of asphalt binder.

article info abstract

Article history: The properties of asphalt binder modified with corn stalk fiber were investigated in this study. The physical-mechanical
Received 29 November 2018 behaviors of the fiber modified asphalt binder were studied by the penetration and softening point tests, dynamic shear test,
Received in revised form 19 March 2019 bending beam rheometer test and rotational viscosity test. The results indicate that the addition of corn stalk fiber decreases the
Accepted 30 March 2019
penetration and increases the soft-ening point of the asphalt binder. Furthermore, the addition of the corn stalk fiber increases
the complex modulus and decreases the phase angle of the asphalt. The creep stiffness of the asphalt binder at low temperatures
first decreases and then increases with an increase in corn stalk fiber content. The variation of the m-value of the asphalt binder
Keywords:
is the opposite to which of the creep stiffness. The corn stalk fiber has good uniformity in the asphalt binder, followed by basalt
Corn stalk fiber
Asphalt binder
fiber and finally lignin fiber. The viscosity results indicate that the addition of corn stalk fiber can increase the viscosity of the
Complex modulus asphalt binder, and the temperature sensitivity of the asphalt binder decreases.
Creep stiffness
Viscosity
2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
As a high-strength, light-weight and reinforced material, fiber is used to
significantly improve the performance and extend the ser-vice life of asphalt
pavement. Much research has been carried out around the world on this use of
fiber. At present, the most com-monly used road fibers are polyester fiber,
basalt fiber, glass fiber and lignin fiber. Lignin fiber is mainly used to adsorb
asphalt in an asphalt mixture. Polyester fiber and glass fiber are mainly used to
stabilize asphalt, and basalt fiber has the function of preventing crack
propagation in an asphalt mixture [1–6].
Stalk fiber composites have developed rapidly in recent years. The
depletion of the earth’s resources and the increasing aware-ness of
environmental protection have focused attention on stalk fibers. Due to its good
mechanical properties, the fiber is added as a reinforcing phase to a matrix
material to form a reinforced composite. At present, more and more
international automakers are using this material. An increasing number of auto
parts in Eur-
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: yijunyan@hit.edu.cn (J. Yi), fengdecheng@hit.edu.cn (D. Feng).
ope and North America are composed of plant fiber composite materials, such
as seat backs, interior trim panels, instrument pan-els and sun visors [7,8]. The
aircraft industry has also begun to use stalk fibers for the manufacture of aircraft
parts [9]. In terms of building materials, the application of stalk fiber is also
very exten-sive, including flooring, fences, guardrails, door panels and window
frames [10]. Therefore, the stalk fiber material as a new energy is an inevitable
trend in future development.
In recent years, many researchers have begun to study the use of different
stalk fibers to make composite materials. Mehrab Mad-houshi et al. [11],
incorporated straw stalk fibers into thermoplas-tic materials to prepare
reinforced composites. Mo et al. [12], used wheat stalk fiber as a raw material
and combined it with different kinds of binders to prepare medium density
particleboard. Soren Halvarssona et al. [13], used wheat stalk fiber as a raw
material to make non-resin particleboard. Amir Nourbakhsh et al. [14], used
agricultural by-product corn stalks, reed rods and cotton stalks to replace wood
materials to prepare resin-reinforced composites. The effects of different fiber
types and fiber incorporation on the physical and mechanical properties of the
composites were inves-tigated. The addition of the agricultural stalk fiber
material appears

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.03.329 0950-
0618/ 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
226 Z. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 225–235

to have a significant effect on the improvement of the tensile strength and Table 1
bending strength of the composite material. Andrzej K. Bledzki et al. [15], used Physical properties of virgin asphalt.

barley shell and coconut shell fiber instead of wood fiber as raw materials, and Tested property Units Value Specification
incorporated them into polypropylene to make a composite material with very Penetration (25 LC) 0.1 mm 83.0 80–100
good impact strength. Generally, the agricultural stalk fiber and wood fiber are Softening point LC 44.0 >42
the main fibers used to make composite materials. The main chemical Ductility (10 LC) cm 114 >20
constituents of agricultural stalk fiber and wood fiber are cellulose, Ductility (15 LC) cm 148 >100
Wax content % 2.0 <3.0
hemicellulose and lignin, and these fibers also contains other small components
Flash point LC 276 >245
such as resin, fat and pectin. The difference in the composition of these plant Burning point LC 285 –
fiber elements is very small, including carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Solubility % 99.8 >99.5
How-ever, the structure and properties of organic matter in plant fibers are Density (15 LC) g/cm3 1.007 –
Dynamic viscosity (60 LC) Pa s 211 >140
different, thus introducing the differences of the fibers’ physical properties of
Rolling thin-film oven test
the fibers, stalk fiber and wood fiber for example [16,17]. Weight change % 0.2 0.8
Residual penetration ratio % 70 >50
Residual ductility (10 LC) cm 16 >6
Residual ductility (15 LC) cm 26 >20
As a large agricultural country, China produces hundreds of mil-lions of
tons of crops per year. In the November 2018 supply and demand report, the
US Department of Agriculture showed that corn production of China in 2018–
2019 was estimated at 256 mil-lion tons [18]. At present in China, the main
treatment method of corn stalks is incineration, which causes serious
environmental pollution [19]. The stalk is a renewable resource with a low price
and wide availability, which meets the requirements of sustainable
development. If these stalk materials could be made into fiber materials that
could meet the requirements of asphalt pavement applications, using the stalks
would not only help to solve the problem of environmental pollution but also
save significant amounts of limited resources.

In asphalt pavement industry, fibers, especially lignin fibers were mostly

popular used in stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixtures. The effect of fiber in
SMA is normally thought as stabilizing and absorbing asphalt. Considering the
preliminary test results which shows a rough surface for corn stalk fiber, the
effect of corn stalk fiber in asphalt may be similar with that of lignin fiber.
Therefore, the performance investigations of asphalt binders made with dif-
ferent kinds of fibers, including corn stalk fiber, lignin fiber and basalt fiber,
need to be conducted and analyzed.
In this study, the corn stalks were reduced to corn stalk fibers by physical
and chemical methods. The physical methods include mechanical separation,
cutting, crushing and comminution of the raw corn stalk materials, while the
chemical methods refer to the removal of hemicellulose and lignin from the
corn stalk fiber with a chemical reaction. The corn stalk fibers were then used
as an asphalt stabilizer. And the properties of asphalt binders modified by corn
stalk fiber, lignin fiber and basalt fiber were investigated through experiments
including the penetration and softening point tests, dynamic shear rheometer
(DSR) test and bending beam rheometer (BBR) test, and rotational viscosity
test.
2. Materials and experimental methods
2.1. Asphalt binder
AH-90 asphalt produced by CNPC Liaohe Petrochemical Co., Ltd. was
used in the experiments. Table 1 shows the measured proper-ties of the asphalt.
This AH-90 asphalt had also been measured fol-lowing SHRP specifications,
and determined to be PG64-28 binder.
2.2. Corn stalk fiber
Fig. 1. Corn stalks.
was yellow and the corn stalks were dry. Fig. 1 shows the corn stalks used in
the research.
Skin and marrow form a corn stalk. The marrow of a corn stalk contains
much protein, fat and sugar [20]. The marrow also has a loose structure and
poor strength. Therefore, the marrow must be removed if corn stalk fiber is to
be used in asphalt pavement. The skin of corn stalks is used to prepare corn
stalk fiber composite materials [21].
First, some undamaged corn stalks were collected, and the skin and marrow
of the corn stalks were separated by a skin-marrow machine. Second, the skin
of the corn stalks, which is mainly com-posed of corn stalk fiber, was subjected
to a water washing process to clean impurities from the surface of the skin.
Third, an oven was used to dry the skin, until it had a constant weight.
Fourth, the skin was cut into strips with a size of 0.4_1.6 2.9_4.9 cm and
then each the strip was crushed by a WKF250 crusher instrument (Fig. 2). Fifth,
50 g of crushed strips was placed in a high-speed multifunction machine for
comminu-tion for a constant time (Fig. 3). The rough corn stalk fiber was then
obtained. These five procedures were the physical treatment methods.
In a sixth step, the 50 g of rough co rn stalk fibers was immersed in 1000
mL of sodium hydroxide solution with a fixed mass con-centration [22]. The
fibers and solution were stirred with a mag-netic stirrer instrument (a magnet
that rotates in the bottom of a beaker) to accelerate a chemical reaction between
the two. The purpose of the reaction was to remove the pectin component, the
semi-fiber and the lignin on the surface of the fiber. During the procedure, the
stirring machine was set at a constant speed of 2100 rpm for 30 min at a
temperature of 80 LC (Fig. 4). The temper-ature of 80 LC was determined after
conducting several trial tests at different temperature. Finally, deionized water
was used to wash the corn stalk fibers. The fibers were then dried in an oven at

The corn stalks used in this study were acquired from a village in Dehui
City, in the province of Jilin in China. The surfaces of the corn stalks were not
damaged or moldy. The color of the corn stalks
 Z. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 225–235 227

Fig. 5. Macroscopic appearance of corn stalk fibers.

Fig. 2. WKF-250 crusher.

Fig. 6. Microscopic appearance of corn stalk fibers.

of the fiber was exposed, increasing the specific surface area of the fiber.
Therefore, the corn stalk fibers could adsorb asphalt.
Fig. 3. High-speed multifunctional crusher.
The role of lignin fiber in asphalt pavement is to adsorb asphalt, which
means to increase the amount of asphaltene and reduce malthene. Therefore,
lignin fiber can increase the viscosity of asphalt mastic and improve the
adhesion between an asphalt bin-der and an aggregate. The effect of corn stalk
fiber in asphalt should to be similar to that of lignin fiber. Therefore, corn stalk
fiber should change the performance of asphalt by absorbing asphalt. Before
adding corn stalk fibers into the asphalt, the phys-ical properties of the fibers
were investigated (Table 2).

2.3. Materials preparation

The fiber-asphalt mixture was created with a dry mixing pro-cess. The use
Fig. 4. Constant-temperature magnetic stirrer. of wet mixing in this article is because that we only focused on the performance
test of fiber asphalt binder. Therefore, fiber was directly added into asphalt. In
addition, the advantage of wet mixing compared with dry mixing is that wet
mixing can make the fiber more evenly dispersed in the asphalt binder.
120 LC, until they had a constant weight. These later procedures were the
However, the
chemical methods.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the macroscopic and microscopic appearance of the corn
stalk fibers. The microscopic image of the fibers was obtained with a SUPRA Table 2
55 scanning electron microscope (Zeiss, Oberkochen Germany) and was used Properties of corn stalk fibers.
to characterize the fiber’s morphology at a magnification of 42 times. The Tested property Units Value Test standard
specific method for preparing the sample was as follows: a single fiber in the
Fiber length mm <3 JT/T 533-2004
sam-ple was selected and pasted onto the conductive paste, and then the surface Fiber diameter lm 50–425 JT/T 533-2004
was sprayed with gold for 10 min and then imaged. Fig. 6 shows that the surface Relative density g/cm3 1.04 JT/T 776.1-2010
of the fiber was disrupted and had a discontinuous layer structure. And the inner Color – Golden JT/T 533-2004
tubular structure Water content % 3.6 JT/T 533-2004
Decomposition temperature LC >240 JT/T 776.1-2010
228 Z. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 225–235

disadvantage is that if the asphalt binder with wet mixing is not used
immediately, the fiber and asphalt will separate again after storage for a period
of time. And normally the wet mixing method will also increase the time and
the cost required during the con-struction process [23,24].
Corn stalk fiber, lignin fiber and basalt fiber were each used in the asphalt
binder test. The lignin fiber was produced by Jilin Zhengxiang Company, China
and the basalt fiber was from Jilin Tongxin Basalt Technology Co., Ltd., China.
The physical properties of the lignin fiber and basalt fiber are lisited in Tables
3 and 4, respectively. During the test, 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10% corn stalk
fibers, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 2.5% lignin fibers and 1%, 1.5%, 2%, and 2.5% basalt
fibers were respectively blended into AH-90 asphalt. All these percentages of
fibers are based on the weight of the asphalt. The asphalt and fibers were heated
in a heating container, and then uniformly mixed 30 min at a temperature of
145 LC using a high-speed shearing machine with a speed of 2500 rpm to create
a homogeneous mixture. Table 5 shows the identifications of the asphalt
binders modified by the corn stalk fibers, lignin fibers and basalt fibers used in
the paper.
the empirical penetration and softening point tests were con-ducted to analyze
the relative hardness and high-temperature sta-bility of the fiber-modified
asphalt [25]. Then three performance-based tests, the DSR test, BBR test and
rotational viscosity test, were used to investigate the service performance of the
fiber mod-ified asphalt. The performance comparisons among the three kinds
of fiber modified asphalt were also made.
In the DSR test, the parameter G*/sind (where G* is the absolute value of
the complex modulus and d is the phase angle) was used to account for the
rutting resistance of the materials, also known as the rutting factor. According
to the standard DSR test procedure, the heated asphalt was cast at the center of
the test plate, and the test plate was mounted to the rheometer after the asphalt
bin-der had hardened. The gap between the oscillating plate and the asphalt
binder was then adjusted, and the temperature was adjusted to the desired test
temperature. Finally, the asphalt bin-der test was carried out under stress or
strain control mode. The DSR test temperatures were 64 LC, 70 LC, and 76 LC.
In addition, the frequency sweep test with DSR was also completed. During the
test, the complex modulus and phase angle of the asphalt bin-der modified by
corn stalk fibers were measured at different tem-peratures (40 LC, 50 LC and
60 LC) and frequencies (0.1–60 Hz). Then the master curves for complex
modulus and phase angle had been presented.

2.4. Experimental methods

According to the Chinese specification (JTG E20-2011), several physical- In BBR test, according to the standard test procedure, the pre-pared
mechanical tests were used to investigate the perfor-mance of the asphalt binder rectangular asphalt binder test piece was placed in a con-stant temperature
modified with corn stalk fiber. First, water bath at the test temperature. After the test piece was kept at a constant
temperature for 60 min, it was placed on the holder, and then the load was
manually applied to the test piece to ensure contact between the test piece and
Table 3
the load head. Finally, the automatic test system was activated to test the asphalt
Physical properties of lignin fiber.
binder. The stiffness and m-values of asphalt binder mod-ified by corn stalk,
Tested property Units Value Test standard lignin and basalt fibers were measured and cal-culated. Three test temperatures
Fiber length mm <5 JT/T 533-2004 including 12 LC, 18 LC and 24 LC were used in the test.
Ash content % 18.9 JT/T 533-2004
pH – 7.8 JT/T 533-2004
Oil absorption rate multiple 5.3 JT/T 533-2004
Water content % 2.9 JT/T 533-2004 The viscosity of asphalt reflects its ability to resist flow and shear
deformation. According to the standard rotational viscosity test procedure, the
viscosity of the asphalt binder at different tem-peratures was measured using a
Brookfield viscometer and the viscosity-temperature curve was plotted. In this
Table 4
Physical properties of basalt fiber. study, five test temperatures, including 110 LC, 120 LC, 135 LC, 150 LC and
160 LC were used. The viscosity at each temperature was measured and plotted
Tested property Units Value Test standard
to evaluate the temperature sensitivity of fiber modified asphalt.
Fiber diameter lm 15.72 JT/T 766.1-2010
Breaking strength MPa 1612 JT/T 776.1-2010
Elongation at break % 2.2 JT/T 776.1-2010
Density g/cm3 2.63 JT/T 776.1-2010
Elastic modulus MPa 102.9 103 JT/T 776.1-2010
Heat resistance, fracture % 96.1 JT/T 776.1-2010 3. Results and discussion
strength retention
3.1. Penetration and softening point

Figs. 7 and 8 show the penetration and softening point test results of the
Table 5
Identifications of asphalt binders. asphalt binders modified with corn stalk fibers, lignin fibers or basalt fibers The
penetration of the asphalt binder decreased with the addition of corn stalk
Binder types Identifications
fibers. It was also shown that the penetration of asphalt binder decreased more
AH-90 asphalt A90 quickly when adding more than 6% content of corn stalk fiber. Due to its short
Blending 2.0% corn stalk fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt C2
Blending 4.0% corn stalk fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt C4
length, corn stalk fiber was suitable for dispersion in the asphalt binder.
Blending 6.0% corn stalk fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt C6 Therefore, as the amount of incorporation increased, the modification effect on
Blending 8.0% corn stalk fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt C8 the asphalt was good.
Blending 10.0% corn stalk fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt C10
Blending 1.0% lignin fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt L1
The penetration of the asphalt binder modified with lignin fiber decreased
Blending 1.5% lignin fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt L1.5
Blending 2.0% lignin fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt L2.0
when the lignin fibers were incorporated, although the penetration then slightly
Blending 2.5% lignin fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt L2.5 increased above 1.5% content before again decreasing. This showed that after
Blending 1.0% basalt fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt B1.0 the incorporation of a small amount of lignin fiber, the performance of the
Blending 1.5% basalt fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt B1.5 asphalt was effectively modified due to the action of the lignin fiber adsorbing
Blending 2.0% basalt fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt B2.0
Blending 2.5% basalt fibers into 100% AH-90 asphalt B2.5
the asphalt. However, when too much lignin fiber was incorpo-
Z. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 225–235 229

Fig. 7. Penetration test results of asphalt binder modified with fibers.

Fig. 8. Softening test results of asphalt binder modified with fibers.