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Feasibility of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Geopolymer Concrete as a Pavement Construction Material

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Abstract

Concern exists regarding the performance of concrete containing a higher percentage of recycled aggregates. There is an ongoing effort to improve the strength and durability characteristics of such concrete in various ways. As part of that effort, this study investigated the laboratory performance of geopolymer concrete containing a higher dosage of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) as a pavement construction material. A series of laboratory investigations were performed to evaluate the mechanical, durability, and morphological characteristics of RAP-geopolymer concrete (GPC). The mechanical properties of RAP-geopolymer concrete were also compared with RAP-Portland cement concrete (PCC) produced using ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Results indicated that RAP-geopolymer concrete exhibited higher compressive, flexural, split tensile strength as compared to RAP-cement concrete. Further, RAP-geopolymer concrete revealed satisfactory results in terms of durability regarding wet–dry cycles and water absorption (sorptivity). Morphological and microstructural investigation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) also discovered the formation of geopolymer compounds in RAP-geopolymer concrete which explains the better mechanical and durability properties of such concrete mixtures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for sponsoring this study by providing the Infrastructure and Materials Testing Laboratory research facility and testing equipment. A special thank you is extended to Mark LeBlanc for assisting in testing and Boral Fly Ash to supply materials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, 70504, USA

    Sk Syfur Rahman & Mohammad Jamal Khattak

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  1. Sk Syfur Rahman
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Contributions

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: MJK and SSR; Experimentation: SSR; and analysis and interpretation of results, and draft manuscript preparation: SSR and MJK. All the authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sk Syfur Rahman.

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Rahman, S.S., Khattak, M.J. Feasibility of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Geopolymer Concrete as a Pavement Construction Material. Int. J. Pavement Res. Technol. 16, 888–907 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-022-00169-8

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