Stripping Performance and Volumetric Properties Evaluation of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Mix Design Using Natural Rubber Latex Polymer Modified Binder (NRMB)

Abstract

Striping one of the most common pavement failure usually occurs in pavement structures. This failure reduced the service life of the pavement, reduced driver safety and increase cost of maintenance. Polymer modified binder has been conducted previously to find an alternative material in pavement construction that can be used as new improvement for asphalt mix design. This paper presents the stripping potential benefits of natural rubber (NR) for the asphalt mixtures used on pavement. This research evaluates the physical properties and stripping performance of dense graded Superpave-designed HMA mix. Two different types of dense graded Superpave HMA mix were developed consists of unmodified binder asphalt mix (UMB) and natural rubber polymer modified binder asphalt mix (NRMB). Natural rubber polymer modified binder was prepared from addition of 8 % of NR into asphalt binder. Stripping results from Modified Lottman test and Boiling Water test were determined to evaluate the performance of these mixtures. Results showed that all the mixes passed the Superpave volumetric properties criteria which indicate that these mixtures were good with respect to durability and flexibility. The Stripping result of NPMB demonstrates better resistance to stripping than those prepared using UMB mix. Addition of NR to the binder has certainly improved the binder properties significantly and hence increase the resistant to stripping of the asphalt mixture. The results also shows that the optimum NR obtained is 8 % by weight of asphalt binder is the most effective proportion that having potential to improve physical properties and the performance of polymer modified asphalt binder. Therefore, it can be concluded that the NR polymer is suitable to be used as a modifier to modified binder in order to enhance the properties of the binder and thus improves the performance of asphalt mixes.