Performance evaluation of high-elastic/salt-storage asphalt mixture modified with Mafilon and rubber particles

Abstract Snow and ice on road surface will reduce anti-skid performance between tire and pavement which will cause traffic safety problem. This research develops one kind of high-elastic/salt-storage asphalt mixture (HESAM) containing Mafilon (MFL) and rubber particles (RP) to improve the snowmelt and deicing performance of asphalt pavement. The high-viscosity asphalt (HVA) binder for HESAM was prepared by adding TPS high-viscosity modifier into common SBS asphalt to improve the functional performance. The MFL was added into mixture by replacing portion of mineral fillers, and RP was used through displacing part of fine aggregate. Five types of mixtures were prepared to investigate the pavement performance of HESAM, and the action mechanism of the modifiers MFL and RP on the functional performance of the mixture was analyzed by test results. The immersion test was designed for HVA + MFL + RP mixture and HVA + RP mixture to determine the effect of MFL on the pavement performance of asphalt mixture. An ice melting effect test was designed to evaluate the ice melting performance of HESAM which taking the loss ratio LR as the evaluation index. A wheel deicing test was designed to study the self-stress deicing effect of rubber particles in HESAM. A time effectiveness test method was also designed to evaluate the sustained release effect and estimate the duration time of MFL. The tests results showed that the high temperature, water stability and low temperature performance of HESAM decreased by 9.9%, 3.5% and 1.1% respectively compared with SBS mixture. This indicates that the pavement performance of HESAM keeps a high level. However, the salt precipitation has obvious influence on the water stability and low temperature performance of the mixture, while with only slightly effect on high temperature performance. The HESAM performed much better snowmelt and deicing performance than common SBS mixture in terms of the faster snowmelt and deicing speed. The duration of snowmelt effect for the high-elastic/salt-storage pavement can be estimated based on the time effectiveness assessment model established in this paper. All the findings proved that HESAM is a kind of pavement material with both remarkable pavement performance and snowmelt and deicing performance which shows great popularization prospect.