Experimental investigation on fatigue and fracture behaviour of cold recycling materials

Cold Recycled Material (CRM) has emerged as a highly innovative road construction material, offering numerous advantages over conventional Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), such as reduced construction costs, decreased energy consumption, and enhanced resistance to reflective cracking. CRM is primarily composed of Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) and bitumen emulsion, with the addition of cement as a co-binder. However, the presence of cement in CRM can lead to increased susceptibility to cracking under heavy traffic loads. In this study, the fracture-fatigue behaviour of CRM modified with by-product fillers was investigated in order to improve the overall performance of CRM mixtures. The Cyclic Indirect Tensile Fatigue test (CIT-CY) and Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) fracture tests were conducted on the CRM mixtures and mortars, respectively. The findings reveal that CRM materials incorporating specific fillers demonstrated a balanced combination of fatigue and fracture resistance, indicating the potential for these modified CRMs to enhance road construction applications. © 2024 The Author(s)