Construction and Building Materials 48 (2013) 622–627

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Effect of mineral filler on properties of warm asphalt mastic containing

Sasobit
Ke-zhen Yan ⇑, Hong-bin Xu, Heng-long Zhang
College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 The relationship of complex shear modulus to F/A ratio of warm asphalt–mineral filler mastic is obtained.
 The effect of different type filler on the properties of warm asphalt–mineral filler mastics is evaluated.
 The high-temperature and low-temperature properties of different warm asphalt–mineral filler mastic are investigated.
 A 0.9–1.4 optimal range of F/A ratio is recommended for warm asphalt–mineral filler mastics.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR) were used to characterize the
Received 10 May 2013 high-temperature properties and low-temperature properties of different Sasobit warm asphalt–mineral
Received in revised form 16 July 2013 filler mastics. The Limestone fillers (LM), Portland cement (PC), and Hydrated lime (HL) were selected as
Accepted 20 July 2013
mineral fillers. Eight fill-to-binder (F/A) ratios for each type of mineral fillers were considered in this
Available online 15 August 2013
study: 0 (without filler), 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1 by the weight of asphalt binder. The effects
of F/A ratio on the complex shear modulus (G*), phase angle (d), G*/sin d and creep stiffness (S) of various
Keywords:
kinds of warm asphalt-mastics were studied. Results of the study showed that the filler type and the F/A
Asphalt mastic
Sasobit
ratio had significant effects on the complex shear modulus (G*) and G*/sin d, but had slight effects on the
Dynamic shear rheometer phase angle (d). The F/A ratio had significant effects on the creep stiffness S, while the filler type had insig-
Bending beam rheometer nificant effects on it. It was also shown that the best function that described the relationship between
each of G*, G*/sin d and S and the F/A ratio was the exponential function. Based on the rate of rheological
curve, the optimum range of F/A ratios were obtained to balance the high-temperature and low-temper-
ature properties.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction investigated as filler used in asphalt mixture. The effect of mineral

Mineral filler, the fraction of fine aggregate passing No. 200
(75 lm) sieve, has commonly been used in asphalt mixtures and
plays an important role in the behavior of the asphalt mixture
and the performance of the asphalt pavement [1]. It has an impor-
tant effect on stabilizing the hot mix asphalt (HMA) by filling the
voids within the larger aggregate particles, and improving the con-
sistency of the binder that cements the larger aggregate particles.
Furthermore, it can improve the workability, moisture sensitivity,
stiffness and ageing characteristics of HMA. There are large varie-
ties of mineral fillers. Natural limestone is processed into mineral
filler used in asphalt mixture traditionally. Recently, recycled
waste lime [2], phosphate waste filler [3], municipal solid waste
incineration ash [4] and waste ceramic materials [5] have been
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 731 88823937.
E-mail address: yankz2004@163.com (K.-z. Yan).
fillers on the behavior of asphalt mastics has been extensively
studied in the literature. Harris and Stuart presented several means
of testing a wide range of mineral fillers and asphalt mastics in an
effort to relate performance to laboratory measured properties [6].
Shashidhar and Romero used rheology-based model, the Nielsen
model, to study the dynamic mechanical behavior of asphalt mas-
tics [7]. Chen and Peng used the direct tension tester (DTT) to study
the effect of mineral fillers on asphalt behavior at low tempera-
tures [8]. Kim and Little studied the rheology-based models in
characterizing the dynamic mechanical behavior of asphalt mastics
[9]. Abbas et al. used the discrete element method (DEM) to simu-
late the dynamic mechanical behavior of asphalt mastics [10]. Liu
et al. investigated the low-temperature rheological performance
(LTRP) of asphalt mastic [11]. Tan et al. studied the high- and
low-temperature properties of asphalt–mineral filler mastic [12].
Al-Khateeb and Al-Akhras investigated the effect of cement
additive on some properties of asphalt binder using Superpave

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.07.085
 K.-z. Yan et al. / Construction and Building Materials 48 (2013) 622–627 623

Table 1
Properties of the base asphalt.

Properties Units Results Specification limits

Penetration (100 g, 5 s, 25 °C) 0.1 mm 70 60–80
Penetration index – 0.58 1.5–1.0
softening point °C 47.1 P45
Ductility (5 cm/min, 5 °C) cm 6.9 –

testing methods [13]. From literature review, it can be found that

the previous studies about the effect of mineral fillers on the
behavior of asphalt mastics are based on hot asphalt.
Recently, the utilization of warm mix asphalt (WMA) as a sub-
stitute for hot mix asphalt (HMA) has been widely increased. The
use of WMA technologies reduces mix production and paving tem-
peratures, decreases energy consumption to produce HMA, reduce
emissions and odors or green house gases from plants, and make
the better working conditions at the plant and paving sites [14–
16]. In present, the WMA technology can be divided into four cat-
egories: organic additives, chemical additives, water-bearing addi-
tives, and water-based processes [17]. With increasing awareness
of the WMA technology in pavement engineering, there is a need
to investigate several properties of warm asphalt. Several studies
have been conducted to investigate the performance of warm as-
phalt mixtures [18–20] and warm-mix asphalt (WMA) binder
properties [18,21]. However, the test data are significantly lacking
in terms of rheological properties of warm asphalt mastic as well
as performance-related properties of the mix.
From the discussion on the mineral filler and asphalt mastic, it
can be seen that the mineral filler also plays an important role in
affecting the performance of warm asphalt mixture. But so far, lit-
tle work has been done to study the properties of warm asphalt–
mineral filler mastics. This paper presents the results of some rhe-
ological tests conducted on warm asphalt–mineral filler mastics.
The objective of the research presented in this paper is, (1) evalu-
ate the high-temperature and low-temperature properties of dif-
ferent warm asphalt mastic using dynamic shear rheometer
(DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR); (2) study the effect of
filler contents on the properties of warm asphalt–mineral filler
mastics; and (3) determine the optimal F/A in order to optimize
the high-temperature and low-temperature properties of warm as-
phalt–mineral filler mixtures containing Sasobit.
2. Preparation of material and laboratory testing
A typical petroleum asphalt used in heavy traffics was used in this research. Its
properties are listed in Table 1. The bitumen was modified (adding 3% by weight)
using Sasobit. Three types of mineral filler, Limestone filler (LM), Portland cement
Fig. 2. BBR test machine.
(PC), and Hydrated lime (HL), were used for preparing the warm asphalt mastic.
The Portland cement and Hydrated lime are often utilized as anti-stripping agents
to improve the resistance of asphalt mixture to moisture damage [22]. They are also
used as mineral filler, functioning as both anti-stripping agents and mineral filler in
asphalt mixture. All three types of mineral filler met the requirements in ASTM
D242, Standard Specification for Mineral Filler for Bituminous Paving Mixtures.
Each of the mineral filler was dry sieved on a No. 200 sieve, and only the minus
No. 200 fraction was used in mixing with the asphalt binder. The fillers were con-
ditioned in a 105 °C oven for 24 h to ensure moisture-free particle surfaces. Warm
asphalt binders were transferred to the mixing container maintained at 120 °C. The
mixer used was maintained at a constant mixing speed such that no voids were cre-
ated during mixing. Filler was slowly added into the bitumen while stirring was
maintained at 500 rpm for approximately 10 min. The dust-to-binder ratio, defined
as the ratio of the mass of dust to the mass of binder in this study, is an important
variable. When applicable, eight dust-to-binder ratios were considered in this study
[i.e., 0 (without filler), 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1].
The DSR and BBR were used in this study to determine the rheological proper-
ties of warm asphalt–mineral filler mastics. DSR test samples were prepared
according to the procedures described in Ref. [22]. The DSR test machine is shown
in Fig. 1. The asphalt mastics were heated until it became sufficiently fluid to pour.
Then they were poured into the silicone mold to get the required DSR test sample.
The test was carried out with 25 mm diameter, 1 mm gap geometry between 30 °C
and 80 °C. The BBR (Fig. 2) was applied to measure the creep response of mastics for
a loading time from 8 s to 240 s at different temperatures. By loading the beam and
measuring the deflection at the center of the beam continuously, the creep stiffness
can be calculated as a function of the loading time and temperature.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Evaluation of high-temperature performance
The DSR test was conducted to evaluation the high-temperature
properties of the warm asphalt–mineral filler mastics at a
frequency of 10 rad/s (1.59 Hz) and at a temperature of 60 °C.
The values of the complex shear modulus (G*) and the phase angle

Fig. 1. DSR test machine. Fig. 3. G* value versus F/A ratio by different fillers.
624 K.-z. Yan et al. / Construction and Building Materials 48 (2013) 622–627

Fig. 4. Phase angle (d) versus F/A ratio by different fillers.
(d) were measured for the asphalt mastics at all the F/A ratios. The
values of the complex shear modulus (G*) for three different kinds
of asphalt mastics were plotted versus the F/A ratios as shown in
Fig. 3. From this figure, it can be found that there is a significant
different value G* among different kinds of mineral fillers. Such re-
sults indicate that the complex shear modulus of asphalt binder is
improved when the mineral fillers are used. The increase in the va-
lue G* for mastics of high filler content is caused by fillers contrib-
uting such a large volume to the binder that they become the
predominant component in bitumen–filler mastics. A filler–filler
interaction exists and therefore has a dramatic effect of filler con-
centration on the complex modulus. The warm asphalt–LM mastic
has the lowest value G*, the warm asphalt–PC mastic has the inter-
mediate, and the warm asphalt–HL mastic has the highest values
at the same F/A ratio. The effect of F/A ratio on the complex shear
modulus was significant, i.e., the values G* increases exponentially
as the F/A ratio increases. The function that best described this
relationship was the exponential function. The exponential func-
tions obtained for the relationships between value G* and F/A ratio
for three types of mineral fillers are shown in Fig. 3.
The effect of F/A ratio on the phase angle (d) of the warm asphalt
mastics was illustrated in Fig. 4. It is obvious that the effect of F/A
ratio on the phase angle(d) is insignificant particularly at lower F/A
ration, i.e., the phase angle(d) is approximately steady with the F/A
ratio for the same type of mineral filler. However, there was a
slight decrease in the phase angle (d) with the F/A ration at values
larger than 1.2. On the other hand, the phase angle (d) is not af-
fected significantly by the type of mineral filler. The warm as-
phalt–HL mastic of the phase angle (d) is little higher than the
warm asphalt–PC mastic, and the warm asphalt–LM mastic of
the phase angle (d) has the lowest values at the same F/A ratio.
Rutting in wheel tracks is a major form of pavement distress.
The asphalt mastic has an effect on resistance to rutting of asphalt
mixture. Adding mineral filler to bitumen can improve the resis-
tance to rutting. The G*/sin d parameter was considered to correlate
highly with rutting of asphalt mixture in Superpave system. The G*/
sin d values were plotted against the F/A rations at the different
mineral filler as shown in Fig. 5. A similar relationship to G* value

Fig. 5. G*/sin d versus F/A ratio by different fillers.

Fig. 6. S versus F/A ratio by different fillers.

 K.-z. Yan et al. / Construction and Building Materials 48 (2013) 622–627
Fig. 7. Schematic of the conceptual model.
with F/A ratio relationship was obtained in this case. The relation-
ship of G*/sin d of warm asphalt–mineral mastic and F/A ratio is
nonlinear and follows the exponential function model. The formu-
las for the relationships of G*/sin d of warm asphalt–mineral mastic
were shown in Fig. 5. The exponential function was found the best
function to describe this relationship with a high coefficient of
determination (R2). The high temperature performance of asphalt
Fig. 8. Schematic of the high-temperature properties model: (a) schematic of warm
asphalt LM-mineral mastic, (b) schematic of warm asphalt PC–mineral mastic and
(c) schematic of warm asphalt LM–mineral mastic.
625
mastic increase as the F/A ratio increases. So after adding mineral
filler, the rutting resistance ability of warm asphalt is improved.
The results showed a considerable increase in value of G*/sin d for
F/A ratios higher than about 1.3. In addition to the effect of filler
content, the influence of filler type on high temperature perfor-
mance can be observed. The warm asphalt–HL mastic has the bet-
ter high temperature performance than the warm asphalt PC
mastic and the warm asphalt LM mastic. Consequently, adding ce-
ment or Hydrated lime to asphalt binder can improve the rutting
resistance of warm asphalt mixture.
3.2. Evaluation of low-temperature performance
The BBR test was conducted to evaluate the low temperature
properties of the warm asphalt–mineral filler mastic. In the BBR
test, a load was applied to a beam of warm asphalt mastic condi-
tioned at a 12 °C temperature. Deflections of the beam are noted
during the loading cycle and a parameter (creep stiffness, S) is cal-
culated after 60 s along with the rate of change of stiffness (m-va-
lue) at that time. The greater the S value, the poorer the low-
temperature properties. The relationships between the creep stiff-
ness S and the F/A ratio were shown in Fig. 6. Adding the filler, the
creep stiffness of the warm asphalt–mineral filler mastic is greater
than that of the warm asphalt. The effect of F/A ratio on the creep
stiffness was insignificant at lower F/A ratios. However, there was a
Fig. 9. Schematic of the low-temperature properties model: (a) schematic of warm
asphalt LM–mineral mastic, (c) schematic of warm asphalt PC–mineral mastic and
(b) schematic of warm asphalt PC-mineral mastic.
626 K.-z. Yan et al. / Construction and Building Materials 48 (2013) 622–627
Table 2
Calculated results of F/A of the intersection.
Warm asphalt–mineral F/A ratio of the intersection
filler mastic
Low-temperature High-temperature
properties properties
LM filler 0.94 1.41
PC filler 0.99 1.39
HL filler 1.02 1.3
significant increase in the creep stiffness for the F/A ratios higher
than 0.90. The best-fit function (model) that described the relation-
ship of S and F/A ratio is the exponential function as shown in
Fig. 6. On the other hand, the type of mineral filler has insignificant
effect on the value of creep stiffness.
3.3. Determine the optimal range of F/A ratio
Researchers quantitatively estimate filler–filler interaction and
bitumen–filler interaction to interpret the effect of fillers on mastic
stiffness in the two regions of dilute and concentrated suspensions
[23]. As shown in Fig. 7, the critical filler concentration represents
the transition between the diluted and the concentrated region. In
other words, estimation of the critical filler volume concentration
is determined by the intersection of two asymptotic lines. The in-
creased rate in the stiffening ratio is linear until a certain filler vol-
ume concentration, at which the rate of increase becomes
nonlinear and rapidly reaches an asymptotic linear trend [24].
From Figs. 5 and 6, it can be seen that the high temperature per-
formance increases as the increase of F/A ratio, and the low tem-
perature performance is opposite. The relationship between high
temperature performance and low temperature performance of
warm asphalt mastic with F/A ratio can be expressed by exponent
functions. So the curve can be divided into two phase as Fig. 7,
yielding an intersection point by the two asymptotic lines. The in-
creased rate in the high temperature is linear until a certain F/A ra-
tio, at which the rate of increase becomes nonlinear and rapidly
reaches an asymptotic linear trend. On the other hand, the decreas-
ing rate in low temperature properties is linear as decrease in F/A
ratio, then it becomes nonlinear and rapidly reaches an asymptotic
linear trend until reaching the intersection point of F/A ratio. Con-
sequently, the F/A ratio showed on the abscissa at the intersection
point will be the point at which the high-temperature performance
and the low-temperature performance of the warm asphalt–min-
eral filler mastic are at optimum. The curves that explain the
high-temperature performance are shown in Fig. 8, while the
curves explaining the low-temperature performance are shown
in Fig. 9. The values of F/A ration at the intersection point for three
kinds warm asphalt–mineral filler mastic studied are obtained
from Figs. 8 and 9 and are shown in Table 2. The results showed
that the critical F/A ratios are 1.41, 1.39, and 1.3 in terms of the
high-temperature performance for LM filler, PC filler, and HL filler,
respectively. And the critical F/A ratios are 0.94, 0.99, and 1.02 in
terms of the low-temperature performance, respectively.
Generally, both the high-temperature properties and the low-
temperature properties are important for asphalt mixture. So in or-
der to balance its high-temperature and low-temperature perfor-
mance, the optimum range of F/A ratio should be within the
value F/A ratio of inflection of the low-temperature performance
and the value F/A ratio of inflection of the high-temperature perfor-
mance. From Table 2, it can be seen that the optimum range of F/A
of three asphalt–mineral filler mastics is all within the range of
0.9–1.4. Therefore, with respect to the interactions of asphalts
and mineral fillers, the optimal range of F/A is about 0.9–1.4. In
other words, taking into account the high-temperature properties
and the low-temperature properties, the optimum range of F/A ra-
tio is 0.9–1.4. The mean value of F/A ratio of the range is about 1.2.
4. Conclusion
The properties of the Sasobit warm asphalt mastics have been
investigated based on DSR and BBR tests. The conclusions of the
paper are summarized as follows:
1. The relationships of complex shear modulus (G*) and the F/A
ratio can be expressed by the exponential functions. The F/A
ratios have no effect on the phase angle (d).
2. The increase in F/A ratio can improve the high-temperature
properties, and the relationship of G*/sin d and the F/A ratio
can be described as the exponential function. The Hydrated
lime filler mastic has the best high temperature performance.
3. The creep stiffness (S) increases with the increase of the F/A
ratio, and the low-temperature properties of asphalt mastic
decrease as the F/A ratio increases.
4. According to the change ratio of the high-temperature proper-
ties curve and the low temperature properties curve, a 0.9–1.4
optimal range of F/A ratio is recommended for warm asphalt
mastics.
5. It is proposed to further investigate the effect of loading fre-
quency on the properties of asphalt mastics in future work.
Acknowledgment
The writers would like to acknowledge the financial support gi-
ven by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of
China Grant No. 51278188.
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