Effects of rejuvenators and aging conditions on the properties of blended bitumen and the cracking behavior of hot asphalt mixtures with a high RAP content

The utilization of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in asphalt pavement has obtained global popularity because of its cost-efficiency, technical advantages, and positive environmental influence. However, incorporating RAP requires careful consideration of cracking resistance because of the existence of age hardening of bitumen in RAP. For the mixtures containing high RAP contents, rejuvenators are often applied to enhance the performances of aged bitumen and the cracking of mixtures. This research aims to evaluate the effects of different rejuvenators on the rheological properties of bitumen and the cracking resistance of the mixture under short and long-term aging conditions. To achieve this goal, three rejuvenators - namely, RA1 (petroleum-based), RA2 (waste vegetable oil-based), and RA3 (modified soybean oil-based) were evaluated at contents of 0%, 4%, 12%, and 20%, respectively. The dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) test results show that, under unaged and rolling thin-film oven (RTFO) aging conditions, blended bitumen with RA1 and RA3 have higher G*/sinδ than RA2. Conversely, under pressure aging vessel (PAV) aging conditions, blended bitumen with RA1 and RA3 has lower G*sinδ than that with RA2. Regarding the cracking resistance, the indirect tension asphalt cracking test results show that, under short-term oven aging (STOA) conditions, the mixture using RA2 and RA3 has a higher cracking tolerance index (CT Index ) than the one with RA1. However, under long-term oven aging (LTOA) conditions, the mixture using RA1 has the highest CT Index value. In addition, the high correlations between G*sinδ with CT Index and post-peak slope (|m 75 |) and between the CT Index and |m 75 | are observed.