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Mole Naar 2010
Mole Naar 2010
Abstract: Wearing courses of porous asphalt concrete 共PAC兲 are widely used in The Netherlands for noise reducing purposes. Because
these mixtures have a very high void content 共⬎20%兲, they are sensitive for damaging effects of climate and traffic. Especially, aging is
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a major concern because it makes the mixture brittle and prone to raveling. In order to be able to do meaningful tests and analyses based
on laboratory produced specimens, it is important to mimic field aging as well as possible. This paper describes the results of an
investigation in which the effects of well known short-term and long-term laboratory aging procedures on the rheological characteristics
and chemical composition of binders, are compared with the rheological characteristics and chemical composition of field aged binders.
The results obtained on field aged binders are also compared with the results of laboratory aging protocols in which a special weather-
ometer was used. The results clearly show that none of the laboratory procedures is capable of simulating long-term field aging. At best
2 years field aging could be simulated. Furthermore, the study showed that the way bitumens are aged in the laboratory affects the
chemical composition of the binder. The paper also discusses the effect of aging on the mechanical characteristics of bituminous binders
in porous asphalt concrete. It is shown that due to aging, the binder will start to behave brittle at temperatures above 0 ° C. Furthermore,
it is shown that aging increases the tensile strength of the binder and the bituminous mastic 共mixture of bitumen and filler兲. The strain at
break however decreases as a result of aging. Fatigue testing showed that aging initially increases the fatigue resistance of the binder.
However long-term aging occurring in the field after a period of more than 7 years results in a significant decrease of the fatigue
resistance. Although not discussed in detail, the results show that aging reduces the stress relaxation capacity of the binder. This will
negatively influence the behavior of the binder in case temperature stresses occur together with traffic induced stresses. Also, the healing
capacity will be negatively influenced by aging.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲MT.1943-5533.0000021
CE Database subject headings: Binders, material; Aging; Rheology; Fatigue; Asphalts.
Author keywords: Binders; Aging; Rheology; Fatigue.
Research Plan
difference in aging exposure between the top part of the layer and Fig. 4. RCAT device for accelerated aging of bituminous binder
the bottom part. Furthermore it has quite often been observed that
the top part of the PAC layer contains less binder than the bottom
part. This is a result of drainage of the binder due to gravitational the temperature used was 163° C. In the RCAT test 500 g of
forces especially during the laying and compaction period when bitumen is used which is exposed to a temperature of 163° C for
the mixture is still hot. Because of these two reasons it was de- a period of 235 min.
cided to analyze the top part of the cores separately from the
bottom part.
Long-Term Aging
The laboratory aging was done on the bitumen as well as the
bituminous mastic being a mixture of bitumen and filler. The Long-term aging refers to the aging of bitumen during the service
aging of these samples was done by means of rolling thin film period of an asphalt pavement. The laboratory accelerated aging
oven test 共RTFOT兲 to simulate short-term aging and by means of method used to simulate long-term aging of bitumen was the
RTFOT+ rotating cylinder aging test 共RCAT兲 to simulate long- RCAT90 共draft NEN-EN 15323兲 after the binder has been ex-
term aging. posed to short-term aging. In this test 500 g of bitumen is used
Furthermore PAC samples taken from slabs that were prepared which is exposed to a temperature of 90° C for a period of 185 h
in the laboratory were aged using a weathering machine. Fig. 3 共Verhasselt and Choquet 1997; Verhasselt 2002兲.
shows that three different protocols were applied to age these
samples. Protocols 1 and 2 were applied on cores taken from the Aging Using a Weatherometer
slabs produced in the laboratory, while Protocol 3 was applied on
beams taken from those slabs. As was mentioned before, PAC slabs were prepared in the labo-
ratory from which samples were taken which were subjected to
different aging protocols using a weatherometer. Fig. 5 shows the
weatherometer and some beams that were cut from the slabs.
Recovery of the Binder, Aging Tests, and
Three aging protocols were used; they are shown in Table 2.
Procedures
The aging protocols were developed after a careful analysis of
climatic data available in The Netherlands and after extensive
Binder Recovery discussions with researchers dealing with the durability of paints.
Recovery of the binder from the field cores and laboratory pro- For details, the reader is referred to Hagos 共2007兲.
duced PAC mixtures was performed according to the European One should realize that each protocol is a compromise be-
standard EN 12697-3 and NEN3971, which entails the following: tween what should preferably be done and what can reasonably
1. Extraction of the binder from the mixture: separation of the be done given time and budget constraints. To simulate aging, it is
aggregates, sand, and filler from the binder using dichlo- preferable to use aging cycles because aging will not or only
romethane 共methylene chloride, CH2Cl2兲 solvent. hardly take place during winter time and the influence of tempera-
a. Binder extraction by dissolving the asphalt mix in cold ture is much lower during the night. Furthermore the influence of
solvent 共dichloromethane, CH2Cl2兲; and UV light is more or less negligible during the night. All this
b. Separation of mineral matter from the binder solution means that aging is more or less a cyclic process in which “rest
共centrifuge extraction method兲.
2. Recovery of the binder from the solution 共EN 12697-3兲: re-
covery of the bitumen from the solvent using the rotary
evaporation method.
Short-Term Aging
Conventional aging methods were adopted for short-term aging of
bitumen in this research. They were:
1. RTFOT 共EN 12607-1兲: rotating thin film oven test.
2. RCAT163 共draft NEN-EN 15323兲: RCAT. Fig. 4 is a picture
of the RCAT test.
In the RTFOT, eight bottles each containing 35 g of bitumen
were placed in the oven. The duration of the test is 75 min while Fig. 5. Weatherometer and PAC beams
Test conditions:
Aging temperature 60° C UV exposure 共300–400 nm兲 60 W / m2
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periods” can be recognized. Cyclic aging might be more detri- 1. Tests on the chemical composition using gel permeation
mental than continuous aging and might therefore be preferred in chromatography 共GPC兲 and attenuated total refraction Fou-
order to simulate reality as good as possible. This would imply rier transform infrared 共ATR/FTIR兲 spectroscopy;
however that the aging protocol would take much more time to be 2. Rheological tests using empirical methods;
performed which is not attractive from a practical point of view. 3. Rheological tests using the dynamic shear rheometer 共DSR兲;
For reasons of time, continuous aging is of course to be preferred. 4. Direct tension tests on the bituminous binder and mastic; and
Also the selection of the aging temperature is a point of de- 5. Fatigue tests on the bituminous binder and mastic.
bate. A temperature of 60° C will not be present the entire time Next to that well known tests such as penetration and softening
but selecting a high temperature will shorten the aging process. point were carried out but these will not be discussed in this
On the other hand, a temperature higher than 60° C can hardly be paper.
applied for the aging of PAC samples because drainage of the
bituminous mortar due to gravitation might be much more than
Chemical Composition
what happens in the field. Comparison of the properties of the
bitumen recovered from the laboratory produced and aged speci- First of all an investigation was done of the effects of aging on the
mens with the properties of the bitumen recovered from field chemical composition. This was believed to be of importance
samples should indicate which aging protocol is the most realistic because the chemical composition could have a big influence on
one. the rheological mechanical and adhesion characteristics of the
bitumen. As mentioned before ATR/FTIR and GPC tests were
performed to obtain information on this matter. In this paper only
Test Results some results of the ATR/FTIR analyses will be discussed.
Fig. 6 shows the infrared 共IR兲 spectrum of laboratory aged
Different types of tests were performed to determine the effect of bitumens 共RCAT185兲, 12-year-old field specimen 共UZ兲, and bind-
aging on the characteristics of bitumen. These tests were: ers recovered from weatherometer aging 共AP3兲. As it can be ob-
Fig. 6. IR spectra of laboratory aged and field aged bitumens recovered from the upper part of the cores
light and temperature has a greater effect on binder aging than the
protocol with only temperature. The effect of the UV light on the Fig. 7. Development of oxidation products of field materials
aging process can also be seen at the C u C band 共1 , 600 cm−1兲. retrieved from the upper part of the field cores
The combination of the three aging effects, i.e., temperature, UV
light, and humidity 关relative humidity 共RH兲兴, is resulting in the
development of the two major oxidation products 共C v O and KT = A ⫻ e−E/RT 共3兲
S v O兲, which is consistent with the characteristic of the field where KT = overall reaction constant of aging at temperature T;
aged binders. To recap, the combined effect of temperature, UV A = constant 共frequency factor兲; and E = activation energy. E
exposure, and humidity/moisture seem to result in the formation ranges between 68,500 and 86, 400 KJ· ° K / mole; R = perfect gas
of both the ketones and sulfoxides similar to the field aging constant 共8.314 J · K−1 mol−1兲; and T = absolute temperature 共°K兲.
whereas the conventional aging results in S v O formation with Because of the activation energy, equal time of aging at vari-
minimum effect on C v O development. This supports the asser- ous temperatures will contribute in different ways to the aging of
tion that the conventional binder aging method does not simulate the binder. As a result of temperature variations in the field, the
field aging. total in-service aging will be the sum of a series of partial aging
The kinetic approach was used to fit the development of the processes in which the contribution of a particular temperature
oxidation products 共C v O and S v O兲 of the EL and SL field will depend on the time of exposure. The sum of the partial aging
binders. This approach was used by Verhasselt and Choquet is equivalent to an identical aging obtained at a certain constant
共1997兲 to predict the aging rate of field and laboratory binders temperature, Tk, called “annual kinetic mean temperature.” Note
based on the development of the asphaltene content with aging that higher temperatures contribute the most to binder aging,
time. The approach is briefly described hereafter. which implies that most of the aging can be said to happen during
The kinetic approach is a method used to predict the rate of summer periods.
change of binder properties due to accelerated aging in the labo- The activation energy is a very important parameter to corre-
ratory or the aging of the binder in asphalt pavements. With this late the laboratory aging processes with the field aging. Knowing
approach, developments in binder characteristics such as penetra- the activation energy and the kinetic mean temperature 共Tk兲, ex-
tion, ring and ball temperature 共TRB兲, viscosity, and asphaltenes trapolation of the overall reaction constants determined in the
content can be described effectively. laboratory to field conditions is possible. These extrapolated con-
A one-dimensional diffusion model resulted in best fits for stants are corrected using Eq. 共4兲
reaction indicators such as asphaltene content 共AS兲, and softening
point 共TRB兲 for tests performed below 100° C. Eq. 共1兲 is the cor- Kactual = G ⫻ P ⫻ R ⫻ Kextrapolated 共4兲
responding equation 共Verhasselt and Choquet 1997; Verhasselt where Kactual = reaction constant in the field; G = correction factor
2002兲 to account for the type of gas used in the test, e.g., for RCAT test
冋 册 冉 冊 n n
G = Kair / Koxygen; P = correction factor to account for the pressure
St − S0 dSt used in the test, P = Pair / Ptest; R = correction factor for the rotation
␣n = = =k⫻t 共1兲
S f − S0 dS⬁ rate of the type of test conducted; and Kextrapolated = reaction con-
stant for a given exposure temperature.
where ␣ = the extent of reaction; S0 =values of the signal or indi-
Various laboratory tests using RCAT aging have yielded values
cator S at times t = 0; St = values of the signal or indicator S at
for these factors to be on average G = 0.57, P = 1, and R = 0.88,
times t = t; S f = values of the signal or indicator S at the end of the
which means that Kactual roughly equals 0.5⫻ Kextrapolated 共Verhas-
reaction; k = reaction constant; and n = aging coefficient, n = 2 for
selt and Choquet 1997; Verhasselt 2002兲.
tests performed below 100° C, and n ⬇ 3 / 2 for tests performed
In Fig. 7, the aging curve was determined based on the sum of
above 100° C.
the characteristic peak areas for oxidation at C v O and S v O.
Eq. 共1兲 can be reduced to a more practical equation 关Eq. 共2兲兴
Accordingly, the most aged binders in the laboratory using the
standard and weatherometer aging have less area than the 1-year-
St = S0 + 共Kr ⫻ tr兲 共2兲
old pavement binders. The LTA bitumen using RCAT predicted
where K = overall reaction constant and r = 1 / n. 0.43 year and the binder aged for 1,000 h in the weatherometer
When K results from an aging test performed at a given tem- predicted 2.1 years of field aging using the EL model. Hence, it
perature T, it may be recommended to specify it with an index, was practically not possible to correlate the laboratory and field
KT. When overall reaction constants, KT, are known for different aging of binders.
test temperatures, the activation energy 共E兲 can be calculated The aging rate of the trafficked lane 共SL兲 binder is higher than
from these values by applying the Arrhenius equation Eq. 共3兲 the lane with no traffic 共EL兲. The logical explanation for this
Fig. 9 shows the master curves for the complex shear modulus
共Gⴱ兲 and the phase angle 共␦兲 for the bitumens that are aged using
standard aging protocols and the bitumens that were recovered
Fig. 8. Results of the penetration and ring and ball tests plotted in the from the laboratory produced PAC specimens and aged in the
bitumen test data chart and estimation of Fraas breaking point weatherometer using Protocols 1, 2 or 3.
The figure clearly shows that the long-term aging procedure
共RTFOT+ RCAT兲 produces approximately similar results as
could be as follows: the damaging effect of traffic loading espe- aging Protocol 3 using the weatherometer. Fig. 10 shows the mas-
cially at lower temperatures results in microcracks. Microcracks ter curves for Gⴱ obtained for the binders recovered from the
create new surfaces to be exposed to the influence of the environ- upper zone of the field cores. In this figure also, the results are
mental factors promoting aging to take place. shown as obtained on virgin and laboratory aged binders.
The two outliers that are indicated in the figure might be re- Fig. 10 clearly shows that the Gⴱ of the bitumen recovered
lated to the fact that the vanadium content of the bitumen recov- from the field specimens is significantly higher than the Gⴱ of the
ered from these sections was outside the 100–120 range that was laboratory produced specimens. Likewise the ␦ of the field speci-
observed for the bitumen recovered from the other sections and mens is significantly lower. Furthermore one can observe that the
the bitumen used in the laboratory. Again it must be concluded so called long-term aging protocol 共LTA; RTFOT+ RCAT兲 and
that the aging protocols and procedures used in the laboratory are Protocol 3 共AP3兲 using the weatherometer are only capable to
not able to mimic the aging that is observed in the field. produce an amount of aging equivalent to 1 year of field aging!
The laboratory aging procedures and protocols are simply not
capable of mimicking the aging that occurs in the field. To some
Rheological Tests Using Empirical Tests extent this was expected because the aging procedures and proto-
cols used have been developed for dense mixtures which, because
The well-known penetration and ring and ball tests were used for of their low void contents 共3–5% in The Netherlands兲 have a
initial characterization of the virgin, laboratory aged, and field much lower sensitivity to aging than PAC. That only 1 year of
aged bitumens. The data were plotted in Heukelom’s bitumen test field aging could be simulated, was not expected however.
data chart 共Heukelom 1973兲 assuming that the penetration at the The question might arise whether the bitumens used in the
Fig. 9. Master curves for Gⴱ and ␦ at the reference temperature of 20° C of the laboratory aged binders
Fig. 10. Master curves for Gⴱ and ␦ at a reference temperature of 20° C for bitumens recovered from field specimens 共taken from the EL兲 and
laboratory produced and aged specimens
field were the same as the laboratory produced specimens. Unfor- or elongation 共mm兲; and Le = effective length= 33.8 mm.
tunately, construction records did not give information of the bi-
tumen used in terms of producer and crude. In all cases however
an 80/100 pen or 70/100 pen bitumen was used because use of End tab
this type of bitumen is prescribed in the specifications. In order to
get more information about this important issue, the vanadium Bitumen / Mastic
content of the field recovered bitumens was determined and com- specimen
pared with the vanadium content of the Q8 bitumen that was used
in the laboratory. Effective length
Le
All recovered bitumens except the one recovered from the
0-year-old section and the one recovered from the 12-year-old SL
had vanadium contents between 100 and 120 which compared
well with the vanadium content of 118 of the Q8 bitumen. From
NB:
these results it was concluded that compositional differences be- All dimensions are in mm
tween the tested bitumens were in general so small that they could
not have influenced the rheological behavior. The differences in
rheological behavior as shown in Fig. 10 are therefore caused by
aging. Figs. 12–15 show the results as obtained on the virgin bitu-
men, the long-term aged bitumen, the virgin, and long-term aged
Direct Tension Tests mastic. It should be noted that the mastic is composed by mixing
bitumen 共b兲 with filler 共f兲.
Direct tensile tests 共DTT兲 on bitumen and mastic were performed
at constant elongation rates. The tests were performed at ⫺10,
⫺5, and 0 ° C. Fig. 11 shows a typical result of a DTT test. In all
tests fracture of the specimen was observed. The stress and strain
in the bituminous specimen is calculated using Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲,
respectively. The maximum stress is considered as the failure
stress and the corresponding strain is the failure strain
P共t兲 P共t兲
共t兲 = = 共5兲
A 共b · h兲
= 冉 冊 ⌬l
Le
⫻ 100% 共6兲
Fig. 12. Direct tension test results obtained on the virgin bitumen Fig. 15. Direct tension results obtained on LTA mastics with a filler;
bitumen ratio of 1
Fatigue
Fatigue tests were performed using repeated DSR tests. The tests
were strain controlled fatigue tests and were all done at a tem-
perature of 20° C. During each test, the decrease of the torque was
measurement as well as the phase angle. Typical fatigue test re-
sults are shown in Fig. 16. The figure clearly shows that the field
aged specimens 共Field7yrEL and Field12yrEL, EL indicates that
the bitumen was recovered from a core taken from the EL兲 have
a much higher stiffness than the virgin and laboratory aged speci-
mens.
Fig. 17 shows the fatigue results obtained on virgin, laboratory
aged, and field aged binders using the Wöhler type of represen-
tation. The strain is the initially applied shear strain while the
number of load repetitions to failure is the number of load repeti-
Fig. 14. Direct tension results obtained on virgin mastics at various Fig. 16. Decrease of the complex shear modulus during fatigue tests
temperatures and displacement rates at a filler; bitumen ratio of 1 performed at 10% strain, 20° C, and 20 rad/s