Performance of Crumb Rubber Tire-Modified Bitumen for Malaysian Climate Regions.

Researchers are increasingly concerned about the vast amounts of waste rubber tires produced globally, which contribute significantly to environmental pollution. The potential of incorporating waste rubber tires to modify bitumen has garnered considerable interest. This study assesses pavement design temperatures according to SUPERPAVE standards for representative Malaysian regions.

Comparison of microscopic techniques to study the diversity of the bitumen microstructure.

Bitumen characterisation and differentiation usually involve a combination of mechanical and chemical analyses. However, these methods provide limited information on the diversity caused by the binders' origin or processing method. Thus, the question arises whether the bitumen microstructure can be used to identify these issues.

Effect of Thermal and Oxidative Aging on Asphalt Binders Rheology and Chemical Composition.

Aging of asphalt binders is one of the main causes of its hardening, which negatively affects the cracking and fatigue resistance of asphalt binders. Understanding asphalt aging is crucial to improve the durability of asphalt pavements. In this regard, this study aims at understanding and differentiating the effect of temperature and oxygen uptake on the aging mechanisms of unmodified asphalt binders.

Impact of asphalt aging temperature on chemo-mechanics.

As the use of warm and cold asphalt mixing technologies provides an opportunity to save energy during production, it is important to determine if this lower mixing temperature also has a long-term effect on the binder chemical and rheological properties and performance. In this study, a link between the chemistry and rheology of bituminous binders with a focus on short-term aging temperature is proposed. This link is made using a rheological aging index (RAI), the crossover temperature and a chemical aging index (CAI).