Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Rheology investigation of combined binders from various polymers with

GTR under a short term aging process
Ouming Xu a,⇑, Lin Cong b, Feipeng Xiao b, Serji N. Amirkhanian c,d
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
b
Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
c
Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
d
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

 Rheology on a low percentage of ground tire rubber (GTR) with other polymers was studied.
 Three base asphalt binders, and five polymers were used to produce binders.
⁄
 G /sin d, amplitude and frequency sweep, creep recovery, etc. were tested.
 Producing PG 76 binder by modifying 7% GTR and other polymers are feasible.
 Rheology of binders is dependent on polymer type, and asphalt source.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Many polymers have popularly been used in asphalt paving industry to improve the resistances of
Received 3 February 2015 rutting, fatigue, low temperature cracking and etc. Using a low percentage of ground tire rubber (GTR)
Received in revised form 15 April 2015 with other polymers to reduce the cost of modified binder is interesting for some researchers. In the pre-
Accepted 2 May 2015
sent study, the objective was to conduct a rheological investigation of combined binders after a short
Available online 21 May 2015
term aging process at high performance temperatures. The conventional testing procedures including
dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and related properties such as failure temperature, G⁄/sin d, viscous flow,
Keywords:
creep and creep recovery, amplitude sweep and frequency sweep as well as stress relaxation were per-
Ground tire rubber
Polymer
formed to determine the influences of polymer type and binder source on the rheological characteristics.
Failure temperature The experimental design included three base binders and five polymers. The test results indicated that, to
Creep and creep recovery produce PG 76 binder by modifying 7% GTR and other polymers are feasible and the base binder and
Amplitude and frequency sweep polymer type affect the creep and creep recovery behaviors, viscoelastic properties, and relaxation
Relaxation characteristics of each modified binder. In addition, terminally blended GTR binder and laboratory
blended GTR binder generally have some different trends with terminally blend styrene butadiene styr-
ene (SBS) binder in this study but exhibit similar good performance properties after a short term aging
procedure, thus were recommended to use in the field.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction polymerized asphalt binder to resist the distress (such as rutting,

The polymer has popularly been used for improving the perfor-
mance properties of asphalt pavement for a couple of decades and
it is effective in increasing the cohesion and adhesion of asphalt
binder and aggregate. Some pavements such as interstate, express
highway, park lot, heavy traffic road and etc. prefer to use the
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 2982337349; fax: +86 2982337340.
E-mail address: xuouming@yahoo.com (O. Xu).
fatigue, thermal cracking and water damage) and improve the
safety [1]. Nowadays, numerous polymers were developed to
achieve a stable and homogeneous property, which can be effective
to be produced in asphalt refined plant and can be quickly used in
asphalt paving industry.
Polymers including styrene butadiene styrene (SBS), styrene
butadiene rubber (SBR), ElvaloyÒ, rubber, ethylene vinyl acetate
(EVA), polyethylene, ground tire rubber (GTR), elastomer,
plastomer, and others have been used in engineering application
for many years [2–7]. Of all the polymer modifiers, SBS is widely

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.05.051
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021 1013

Table 1
Rheological properties of base binders.

Binder type Source Aging states

Unaged Unaged Unaged RTFO PAV
Viscosity (135 °C) Failure temp. G⁄/sin d (64 °C) G⁄/sin d (64 °C) G⁄sin d (25 °C) Stiffness ( 12 °C) m-Values ( 12 °C)
(cP) (°C) (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) (MPa)
PG 64-22 A 645 68.6 2.03 4.94 1429 103 0.376
PG 64-22 B 465 65.8 1.28 2.87 3229 257 0.312
PG 64-16 C – 67.8 1.59 – – – –

Table 2
Combinations of various polymerized PG 76-22 binder.

Base binder P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 TB LB
Terminally blended Laboratory blended with 7%GTR (by weight of binder) Terminally Laboratory
(by weight of binder) blended blended
A 3% SBS 1.5% Elastomer 1 1.5% Elastomer 2 0.5% PPA 1.4% EVA 1.6% SBS GTR 10% GTR
B 3% SBS 1.0% Elastomer 1 1.0% Elastomer 2 0.3% PPA 1.0% EVA 1.5% SBS
C 3% SBS 1.5% Elastomer 1 1.5% Elastomer 2 0.5% PPA 1.4% EVA 1.6% SBS

Binder Binder Binder Binder

A B C B

Polymer Polymer Polymer Polymer Polymer Polymer Polymer Polymer

(P0) (P1) (P2) (P3) (P4) (P5) (TB) (LB)

RTFO
Aging

G*, δ Relaxation Viscometry Amplitude Frequency Creep & Creep

Sweep Sweep Recovery
Figure 1 Flowchart of experimental tests for polymerized asphalt binders

Fig. 1. Flowchart of experimental tests for polymerized asphalt binders.

88 88
A B C
82 82
Fail temperature(ºC)
Fail temperature(ºC)

76 76

70 70

64 64

58 58

52 52
0 P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
Polymer type Binder type

(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Failure temperatures of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders, (a) binders based on polymer type, (b) binder type.

used in the majority of the modified asphalt binders and has been It is well know that when a polymer and virgin asphalt are
properly defined in various specifications all over the world [2,8]. blended, the polymer strands absorb part of the low molecular
1014 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021

Table 3 elasticity and plasticity properties and thus the polymer additives
Statistical analysis of failure temperature in terms of various polymers. contribute to a stronger adhesion of aggregates and binders [4].
P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Both the chlorinated plastomer and elastomer showed
P0 – N N Y N N improved compatibility with the asphalt binders after reactive
P1 – N Y N N processing at elevated temperatures [10]. In addition, Mostafa
P2 – Y N N et al. [11] reported that elastomeric modification should be used
P3 – Y Y cautiously and may not be considered a general solution to
P4 – N
P5 –
improve binder performance. Moreover, elastomeric polymers
have shown the greatest potential for use in asphalt modification.
AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
There has also been some use of plastomeric polymers. It has been
AP0 – Y N Y N estimated that approximately 75% of all polymer modified asphalts
BP0 – Y N Y
utilize elastomeric modifiers, while only 15% of modifiers used are
CP0 – Y N
TB – Y plastomeric. The remaining 10% of modified asphalts use other
LB – types of materials, such as sulfur and acid [12,13].
Nowadays, much interest is to employ polyphosphoric acid
Notes: P – polymer; 0–5 – polymer type; A–C – base binder type; TB – terminally
blended GTR from base binder B; LB – laboratory blended GTR from base binder B; Y (PPA) to modify asphalt binder to produce high performance grade
– significant difference; N – no significant difference (a = 0.05). binder. By itself or in combination with a polymer, PPA provides a
means of bitumen modification usually produced cheaper than one
with a polymer alone [4,14,15].
weight oil fraction from the virgin asphalt and become swollen.
Sengoz and Isikyakar [16] reported that when binders modified
Therefore, it is effective to slow the aging process in the field
with elastomeric modifiers (GTR, SBS, and SBS–GTR) yielded better
because the light oil is not oxidated as fast as virgin binder.
recoveries than those made with plastomeric modifiers (Elvaloy
When the polymer-rich phase becomes the continuous phase due
and EVA). The binder modified with both PPA and SBS exhibited
to the relatively higher fraction of swollen polymer, the swollen
properties very similar to the plastomeric binders. Overall, the
strands connect together and form a three dimensional network,
GTR-modified binder exhibited the least creep, while also demon-
which provides the physical properties of elasticity, plasticity,
strating a very high recovery rate. It also tended to yield the high-
and elongation of an asphalt binder [9]. The distresses of asphalt
est percent recoveries over the range of temperatures [16].
pavement can be significantly reduced due to these enhanced

100 100
A0 AP0 AP1 AP2 B0 BP0 BP1 BP2
AP3 AP4 AP5 BP3 BP4 BP5
G*/sinδ (kPa)

G*/sinδ (kPa)

10 10

1 1

0.1 0.1
58 64 70 76 82 88 58 64 70 76 82 88
Temperature (ºC) Temperature (ºC)

(a) (b)
100 100
C0 CP0 CP1 CP2
AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
CP3 CP4 CP5
G*/sinδ (kPa)

G*/sinδ (kPa)

10 10

1 1

0.1 0.1
58 64 70 76 82 88 58 64 70 76 82 88
Temperature (ºC) Temperature (ºC)

(c) (d)
Fig. 3. G⁄/sin d values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and laboratory blended binders.
 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021 1015

Xiao et al. [17] indicated that GTR modified binder is formed by
the interaction of ground reclaimed tire rubber with asphalt binder
at elevated temperatures for a certain period of time (typically at a
temperature of 170–190 °C and a mixing time of 30–90 min). GTR
produced from scrap tires consists mainly of natural and synthetic
rubber, carbon black, sulfur, zinc oxide and coloring agents. It is
well known that the rubber absorbs asphalt binder and swells at
a high temperature. The amount of swelling is dependent on the
nature, temperature and viscosity of the base asphalt binder. This
swelling of the crumb rubber is a diffusion process and increases
the dimension of the rubber network until the concentration is
uniform and equilibrium swelling is achieved [18–20]. Most of
the crumb rubber produced today is a homogenous blend of differ-
ent rubber polymers; hence, compatibility is primarily dependent
on the properties of the asphalt binder rather than the composition
of the GTR material.
Due to the recycling nature of GTR material, it is relatively
cheaper than the other polymers in the market. Therefore, it is
an attractive subject to reduce a concentration of the polymer used
for modifying asphalt binder with an additional GTR while this
combined binder can satisfy the performance demand of asphalt
pavement. The objective of this study is to investigate the rheolog-
ical properties of the modified PG 76-22 binders produced from
GTR with various polymers after a short term aging process. The
experimental dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests included the
investigation of G⁄/sin d, viscous flow, creep and creep recovery,
amplitude sweep, frequency sweep and stress relaxation in terms
of three base binders and five polymers.
2. Experimental process and materials
Three based binders included two PG 64-22, one PG 64-16, from various sources
(referred to as A–C) were used to blend with five polymers (SBS, Elastomer,
Plastomer, GTR, and EVA) and PPA in this study. The properties of three states of
these base binders are shown in Table 1. These tests were performed in accordance
with AASHTO and ASTM Superpave mix specifications. The used percentages (by
weight of binder) of GTR were generally based on a half common content of GTR
to achieve a PG 76 binder. In this study, 7% percentage of GTR was used to blend
with other polymers. The GTR is a size of 40 mesh (0.42 mm) ambient produced.
The concentrations of other polymers were selected based on the combined
modifiers to achieve a PG 76 binder with a trial process in the laboratory. The major
combination information is shown in Table 2. It can be noted that, in this study, a
different percentage of polymers were used to produce the PG 76 binders due to
the varying binder sources and polymer types.
For binder preparations, 7% GTR were blended with 600 g of hot asphalt binder
in a quart can using a small-shear radial flow impeller at a speed of 2200 rpm for
30 min at 177 °C in the laboratory, and then other polymers were added into this
combination individually according to a certain concentration and were blended
for another 30 min. These modified asphalt binders were performed a rolling thin
film oven (RTFO) test according to AASHTO T 240. These short term aged binders
were tested as shown in Fig. 1.
The high temperature rheological properties of each RTFO binder were
measured using a DSR according to AASHTO T 315. In this research project, a
2 mm gap and 25 mm diameter plate for all binders were used to obtain DSR values
at high temperatures regarding the size of GTR modified binder. Each binder was
measured in terms of the complex shear modulus (G⁄) and phase angle (d) values
starting at 64 °C until failure in accordance with Superpave specifications.

90 90

80 80
Phase angle (degree)

Phase angle (degree)

70 70

60 60

50 50

40 A0 AP0 AP1 AP2 40 B0 BP0 BP1 BP2

AP3 AP4 AP5 BP3 BP4 BP5
30 30
58 64 70 76 82 88 58 64 70 76 82 88
Temperature (ºC) Temperature (ºC)
(a) (b)
90 90

80 80
Phase angle (degree)

Phase angle (degree)

70 70

60 60

50 50

40 C0 CP0 CP1 CP2 40

AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
CP3 CP4 CP5
30 30
58 64 70 76 82 88 58 64 70 76 82 88
Temperature (ºC) Temperature (ºC)
(c) (d)
Fig. 4. Phase angle values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and laboratory blended binders.
1016 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021

AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5
AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5
100 100000 100 100000

10000 10000

Shear rate(1/s)
Shear rate(1/s)

Viscosity(Pa.s)
Viscosity(Pa.s)
10 10
1000 1000

100 100
1 1
10 10

0 1 0.1 1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time(second) Time(second)

(a) (b)

CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB

CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
100 100000 100 100000

10000 10000
Shear rate(1/s)
Shear rate(1/s)

Viscosity(Pa.s)

Viscosity(Pa.s)
10 10
1000 1000

100 100
1 1
10 10

0.1 1 0 1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time(second) Time(second)

(c) (d)
Fig. 5. Viscosity and shear rate values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders after a constant loading, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and laboratory blended
binders.

In addition, tests such as creep/creep recovery, viscous flow measurements, AASHTO M320 (2.200 kPa for RTFO binder). Two replicates were
amplitude, frequency sweep and relaxation were performed at 64 °C and 76 °C.
tested for each binder.
For each blended binder. Creep and creep recovery tests were run at a stress level
of 10 Pa and 3200 Pa that represents a low stress and a high stress level on a pave-
In this study, the virgin binders modified by 7% GTR and various
ment. In addition, viscous flows were measured at a certain stress and amplitude contents of polymers were achieved PG 76 binders at virgin state,
sweep of the binders were performed at a reduced stress. During the stress relax- thus, all binders should not be failed at a high performance tem-
ation test, the sample is subjected to a rapidly applied strain which is then held perature of 76 °C. Fig. 2 illustrates that all modified binders have
for the remainder of the test. The relaxation behavior is studied by monitoring
the failure temperatures greater than 76 °C regardless of binder
the steadily decreasing value of shear stress. This test is useful to obtain viscosity
and initial modulus over the decay time. Moreover, for the frequency sweep tests, source and polymer type. It seems that, after a short term aging
frequency ranges from 0.01 to 100 Hz were run at a low possible strain. process, these binders can satisfy the requirements of specifica-
tions. In addition, in Fig. 2(a), it can be noted that the binders P3
(7% GTR with 0.3–0.5% PPA) have failure temperature even greater
3. Results and discussions than 82 °C irrespective of binder source. This shows that the com-
binations of GTR and PPA are easier to be aged compared to other
In this study, results of the failure temperatures were statisti- polymers in this study. Moreover, as shown in Fig. 2(b), similar to
cally analyzed at the 5% level of significance (0.05 probability of the conventional SBS binders (AP0, BP0, and CP0), terminally and
a Type I error in terms of t-test) with respect to the effects of binder laboratory blended binders (TB and LB) have failure temperatures
source and polymer type. between 76 °C and 82 °C.
Furthermore, statistical analysis shown in Table 3 indicates
that, in terms of each polymer, there are no significant differences
3.1. Failure temperature in failure temperatures between any two modified binders except
for the binders P3. However, it can be observed that significantly
In this study, the RTFO aging binders were tested to determine different failure temperatures can be found between the binders
the grade feature of the DSR to identify various polymers impacts P3 and any other binders. Additionally, Table 3 shows that there
on failure temperatures. This procedure tests the sample at a start- are some significantly different failure temperatures between ter-
ing temperature of 64 °C and increases the temperature to the next minally blended SBS binders and terminally or laboratory blended
PG grade if the G⁄/sin d value is greater than the value required by GTR binder at the 5% level of significance. Therefore, both binder
 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021 1017

100 100 100 100

AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP5 AP4 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP5 BP4
AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5
90 90

Phase angle(degress)
Phase angle(degress)
Complex Modulus(kPa)

Complex Modulus(kPa)
10 10
80 80

70 70
1 1
60 60

0 50 0 50
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Reduced shear stress(Pa) Reduced shear stress(Pa)

(a) (b)
100 100 100 100
CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP5 CP4 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
90 90
Phase angle(degress)

Phase angle(degress)
Complex Modulus(kPa)

Complex Modulus(kPa)
10 10
80 80

70 70
1 1
60 60

0 50 0 50
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Reduced shear stress(Pa) Reduced shear stress(Pa)

(c) (d)
Fig. 6. Complex modulus and phase angle values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders under an amplitude sweep test, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and
laboratory blended binders.

type and polymer type play key roles in determining the failure result, it can be concluded that TB and LB binders are effective to
temperature after a short term aging process. However, to produce contribute to an improvement of rutting resistance at a high per-
PG 76 binder by modifying GTR and other polymers are feasible at formance temperature.
satisfying the demand of failure temperature.

3.2. Rutting resistance factor 3.3. Phase angle

Based on the values of complex modulus (G⁄) and phase angle In Superpave specifications, phase angle is defined as the time
(d) at starting temperature 64 °C until failure, Fig. 3 indicates that, lag between strain and stress under the traffic loading and is highly
as expected, an increased temperature results in a reduction of dependent on the temperature and frequency of loading. It can be
G⁄/sin d irrespective of binder source and polymer type. used as an indicator of viscosity and elasticity of binders [21,22]. As
Meanwhile, at test temperatures, binders containing PPA have shown in Fig. 4, with respect to the performance grade type of the
the highest G⁄/sind (rutting factor) values while base binder gener- binder, base binders have higher phase angles than other binders
ally shows the lowest value. It can be found that there are some at the tested temperatures thus exhibit lower viscous and elastic
differences in G⁄/sin d for various polymerized binders in Fig. 3. properties compared to polymerized binders.
For each polymer type, Fig. 3(a) illustrates that AP4 (EVA mod- In addition, for each binder, it can be noted that, in Fig. 4(a), the
ified binder) has a lower G⁄/sind value than other polymerized bin- increased trend in phase angle of each modified binder is generally
der, but Fig. 3(b) shows that BP0 (SBS modified binder) have a different each other when the test temperature rises. Similar con-
lower G⁄/sin d value than other polymerized binders. In addition, ditions can be found in binders B and C. The reason may be that the
as shown in Fig. 3(c), it can be observed that CP0 (SBS modified used polymers in this study show different sensitivity due to their
binder) has a lower G⁄/sin d value than other polymerized binders varying viscoelastic properties at a same test temperature.
at 64 °C and 70 °C, but not at 76 °C and 82 °C. Consequently, the Moreover, for each polymer, for example, AP0 binder has a remark-
G⁄/sind values of 7% GTR with other polymerized binders are rela- ably different phase angle with BP0, CP0, TB, and LB since the SBS
tively dependent on the polymer type and binder source. were blended with various base binders (binder A–C). Other poly-
Additionally, the G⁄/sin d values of terminally blended SBS bin- mers have similar viscoelastic properties with AP0 in this study.
ders are generally close to those values of TB (terminally blended Therefore, it can be concluded that both binder source and polymer
GTR) and LB (laboratory blended GTR) binders in Fig. 3(d). As a type affect the viscoelastic properties of modified binders.
1018 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021

0.01 0.01
Creep compliance(1/Pa) AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5

Creep compliance(1/Pa)
0.001 0.001

0.0001 0.0001

0.00001 0.00001
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time(second) Time(second)

(a) (b)

0.01 0.01
CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
Creep compliance(1/Pa)

Creep compliance(1/Pa)

0.001 0.001

0.0001 0.0001

0.00001 0.00001
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time(second) Time(second)

(c) (d)
Fig. 7. Creep and creep recovery values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders under a 10 Pa loading, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and laboratory blended
binders.

3.4. Viscous flow similar findings were obtained at a test temperature of 76 °C but
the results were not shown here due to a limited paper length.
The absolute viscosity values of varying polymerized binders As a result, in a relative intermediate temperature, the viscosity
were measured at a constant stress at 64 °C and 76 °C as shown and shear rate values of various polymerized binders are generally
in Fig. 5. It can be seen that, under a certain loading, the viscosity different.
values and shear rates initially (first 20 s) increase and reduce,
respectively, and then generally keep constant values. It seems that 3.5. Amplitude sweep tests
a constant stress on the modified binder with GTR and other poly-
mers generally does not change their viscosity values and shear In this study, in terms of the stress responses of various poly-
rates. In addition, with respect to the effect of binder source, in merized binders at 64 °C and 76 °C, the amplitude sweeps were
Fig. 5, it can be noted that, for example, viscosity value and shear performed to determine the complex modulus and phase angle
rate of AP1 are generally different with BP1 and CP1. Similarly, values [22–24]. The effect of a reduced shear stress on these values
other modified binders from base binder A have different viscosity is presented in Fig. 6. The test results illustrate that the increase of
values and shear rates with those from base binders B and C. shear stress does not obviously result in a change of complex mod-
In terms of the effect of polymer type, Fig. 5 illustrates that, ulus regardless of binder source and polymer type. Meanwhile, the
there are some different viscosity and shear rate values between phase angle of the binder approximately keeps constant as the
any two polymerized binders in general. For example, as shown shear stress increases.
in Fig. 5(a) and (c), both AP0 and CP0 have higher viscosity values The effect of binder source on the complex modulus and phase
and lower shear rates compared to other modified binders. In addi- angle in Fig. 6 indicates that, for each polymerized binder, these
tion, in Fig. 5(d), it can be observed that the viscosity and shear rate values are obviously different. For example, in Fig. 6(a), AP2 has
values of SBS modified binders are generally different with GTR the complex modulus and phase angle values of approximate
modified binder due to the elasticity nature of rubber. Moreover, 9.5 kPa and 67°, respectively, but both BP2 and CP2 only have
 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021 1019

1000000 90 1000000 90
AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5
AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5
80 80
100000 100000
Complex Modulus(Pa)

70

Complex Modulus(Pa)
70

Phase angle (degree)

Phase angle (degree)

10000 60 10000 60

50 50
1000 1000
40 40

100 30 100 30
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Frequency(Hz) Frequency(Hz)

(a) (b)
1000000 90 1000000 90
CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB
80 80
100000 100000
Complex Modulus(Pa)

70

Complex Modulus(Pa)
70

Phase angle (degree)

Phase angle (degree)

10000 60 10000 60

50 50
1000 1000
40 40

100 30 100 30
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Frequency(Hz) Frequency(Hz)

(c) (d)
Fig. 8. Complex modulus and phase angle values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders under a frequency sweep test, (a–c) binders A-C, (d) terminally and
laboratory blended binders.

the complex modulus values of 7.6 kPa and their phase angles are In this study, it can be noted that, when same polymer were
approximate 64° and 69°, respectively. Generally, the binder modified by different base binders, these binders show noticeable
source affects the complex modulus and phase angle values when difference in the peak creep compliance and creep recovery. For
performed at a reduced shear stress. example, in Fig. 7(a)–(c), AP1, BP1, and CP1 have different compli-
It can be seen that, in Fig. 6, different polymerized binders have ance and related creep recovery. In addition, for each polymer,
approximately same complex modulus and different phase angles when blended with same base binder, the compliance and creep
when used same binder source under a reduced shear stress. It recovery of each modified binder are remarkable difference as
seems that, similar to viscous flow study, the elastic properties shown in Fig. 7(a). Moreover, TB and LB generally have similar
are also affected by a shear stress when used various polymers trends with BP0 in this study. Similar findings can be found when
with 7% GTR binders. tested at a temperature of 76 °C besides that the recovery percent-
age of each modified binder is relatively lower compared to these
results at 64 °C. When used a pressure of 3200 Pa, similar results
3.6. Creep and creep recovery can be obtained. Therefore, the base binder and polymer type affect
the creep and creep recovery behaviors of each modified binders.
Creep defined as the slow deformation of a material measured
under a constant stress, is typically used to characterize the recov-
ery properties of an asphalt binder. In a creep test, a fixed shear 3.7. Frequency sweep tests
stress is applied to the sample and the resultant strain is monitored
for a predetermined amount of time. This gives an idea of the per- The frequency sweep tests were performed under a frequency
manent deformation that the binder will undergo [22]. Generally, if from 0.01 to 100 Hz and the overall frequency sweep tests were
the material is ideal elastic and this elasticity has not been run with the 25 mm diameter and 2 mm testing gap geometry at
destroyed by the creep test, it may recoil back to its original posi- 64 °C and 76 °C in this research. The frequency sweep tests at var-
tion. Otherwise, it will stay where it is [22]. ious frequencies could identify the linear viscoelastic response of
Fig. 7 shows that the creep and creep recovery curves of all bin- the binders.
ders at a 1 s loading duration and 9 s unloading with a pressure of As shown in Fig. 8, it can be observed that the increased fre-
10 Pa at 64 °C. It can be seen that, all binders have obvious recovery quency results in an increase of complex modulus and a reduction
characteristics after the loading was removed at 1 s regardless of of phase angle for all modified binder regardless of base source and
binder source and polymer type. In addition, the compliances of polymer type in this study. As the test frequency increases from
all binders are less than 0.001(1/Pa), having a relative higher defor- 0.01 to 0.02 Hz, the reduction of phase angle is more noticeable.
mation resistance. With respect to the effect of asphalt binder, in Fig. 8, it can be
1020 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021

10000 AP0 AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 AP5 10000 BP0 BP1 BP2 BP3 BP4 BP5

1000 1000
Relaxation spectrum(Pa)

Relaxation spectrum(Pa)
100 100

10 10

1 1
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Time(second) Time(second)
(a) (b)
10000 CP0 CP1 CP2 CP3 CP4 CP5 10000 AP0 BP0 CP0 TB LB

Relaxation spectrum(Pa)
Relaxation spectrum(Pa)

1000 1000

100 100

10 10

1 1
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Time(second) Time(second)
(c) (d)
Fig. 9. Relaxation spectrum values of RTFO aged combined polymerized asphalt binders under a frequency sweep test, (a–c) binders A–C, (d) terminally and laboratory
blended binders.

found that, in most cases, similar trends and approximate complex
modulus values of modified binders can be observed at a varying
frequency from Fig. 8(a)–(c), but the phase angles of the modified
binders generally vary.
In addition, regarding to the effect of polymer type, it can be
seen that, in Fig. 8(a) and (b), complex modulus values of all mod-
ified binders are generally similar, but CP4 has a noticeably higher
complex modulus while CP0 has a relatively lower values as the
frequency is greater than 1 Hz. Moreover, Fig. 8 indicates that,
when blended with same binder, various polymerized binders
generally have different phase angles at a frequency of
0.01–100 Hz. Furthermore, Fig. 8(d) illustrates that TB and LB have
different complex modulus and phase angle values with BP0, and
these values vary from three terminally blended SBS binders
(AP0, BP0, and CP0) in this research. These binders show similar
trends at 76 °C and are not shown in this paper due to the limited
manuscript length. As a result, frequency sweep test indicates that
viscoelastic properties of various polymerized binders are based on
the binder source and polymer type.
3.8. Stress relaxation
During the stress relaxation test, the sample is subjected to a
rapidly applied strain which is then held for the remainder of the
test. The relaxation behavior is studied by monitoring the steadily
decreasing value of shear stress. This test is useful to obtain viscos-
ity and initial modulus over the decay time [4].
The test results shown in Fig. 9 illustrate that the relaxation
spectrums of all binders reduce as the decay time increases at a
controlled strain of 10% and a test temperature of 64 °C. In addi-
tion, these relaxation spectrums generally decrease slowly when
the decay time starts from 6 to 7th second. In Fig. 9, it can be noted
that the modified binders from base binders A and C have lower
relaxation spectrums regardless of the decay time. AP0, BP0 and
CP0 generally have different trends as shown in Fig. 9(d).
Therefore, the binder source has an effect on the relaxation of
the modified binder.
Fig. 9 shows that the relaxation spectrums of all modified bin-
ders blended with same binder source are generally different when
used various polymers. AP0 (SBS modified) and CP0 have higher
relaxation spectrums compared to other polymerized binders.
Similar findings can be found when tested at 76 °C.
Consequently, it can be concluded that the binder source and poly-
mer type play a key role in determining the relaxation characteris-
tics of the modified binders.
As discussed in this section, the polymerized binders from other
polymers with 7% GTR generally have similar rheological proper-
ties with SBS and pure GTR modified binders after a short term
aging process. It could be recommended to produce the polymer-
ized asphalt mixtures, which would be an alternative method to
save the initial cost of asphalt pavement.
4. Findings and conclusions
In this research, based on the test results from three base bin-
ders and six polymer modifiers after a short term aging procedure,
through a series of conventional and specific tests at high test tem-
peratures, the following conclusions can be drawn:
 O. Xu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 1012–1021
 Both binder type and polymer type play key roles in determin-
ing its failure temperature after a short term aging process. In
addition, to produce PG 76 binder by modifying 7% GTR and
other polymers are feasible at satisfying the demand of failure
temperature.
 The G⁄/sin d values of 7% GTR with other polymerized binders
are relatively dependent on the polymer type and binder
source. TB and LB binders are effective to contribute to an
improvement of rutting resistance at a high performance
temperature.
 Generally, the binder source affects the complex modulus and
phase angle values when performed at a reduced shear stress.
In addition, the elastic properties are also affected by a shear
stress when used various polymers in 7% GTR binder.
 The base binder and polymer type affect the creep and creep
recovery behaviors, viscoelastic properties, and relaxation char-
acteristics of each modified binders. TB and LB generally have
some different trends with BP0 in this study but have good per-
formance properties after a short term aging procedure.
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