Laboratory study on the possibility of utilizing coconut fiber as an alternative to cellulose additive for the Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA)

In recent years, natural fiber as alternative traditional additives have been increasingly utilized in asphalt concrete (AC) mixtures to reduce environmental pollution, decrease construction costs. Therefore, it is very necessary to study solutions of utilizing local materials as coconut fiber to replace the cellulose additive for the stone mastic asphalt (SMA). This paper evaluated initially the possibility of using coconut fiber to replace cellulose additives to prevent draindown and enhance the macroscopic structure of SMA. Based on the laboratory experiments, the study evaluated the required technical parameters of SMA 16 in terms of draindown characteristic, Cantabro abrasion loss, Marshall stability, Marshall stability ratio, and rutting according to TCCS 36:2021/TCDBVN. Test results indicated the possibility of using coconut fiber to replace the cellulose additive for SMA in pavement construction.