Reutilization of crystalline waste plastics for modified asphalt using twin‐screw extrusion: Polyethylene and polypropylene as typical subjects

Abstract The key technologies for waste plastic modified asphalt were storage stability and low temperature performance. In order to reutilize waste plastics for modified asphalt, a simple strategy, which based on recrystallization of the waste plastics, was proposed in this article. It was found that the pretreated waste plastics had higher crystallinity and smaller crystal size. Moreover, the deformation resistance and stability of the modified asphalt were improved. In addition, a rational mechanism called “polymer crystals confinement effect” was proposed to reveal the intrinsic correlation between the properties of crystalline waste plastics and modified asphalt.