Effect of direct addition of asphalt rubber pellets on mixing, performance and VOCs of asphalt mixtures

Direct injection modifiers revealed vast development potential because of their convenience utilization and no need for professional equipment. However, different characteristics of each direct injection modifier fluctuate significantly on the mixing process and road performance of their modified asphalt mixtures. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of two novel asphalt rubber pellets (ARP) and asphalt desulfurized rubber pellets (ADRP) in improving the performance of asphalt mixtures. Firstly, this paper used orthogonal experimental design method to determine the priority order of the influencing factors on direct injection modifiers (ARP and ADRP), and further optimized the mixing technology of asphalt mixtures containing direct injection modifiers. Then, using base asphalt, commercial asphalt rubber (AR) and SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer) modified asphalt as control groups, the road performance of five asphalt mixtures was evaluated. Finally, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) release characteristics of the asphalt mixtures were quantitatively analyzed. The results indicated that the priority order of factors affecting the ARP and ADRP is digestion time > dry mixing time > mixing temperature, and the optimal mixing process parameters are dry mixing for 90 s, mixing temperature of 180 degrees C, and digestion time of 90 min. Additionally, road performance of ADRP modified asphalt mixtures (ADRP-AM) is superior to that of ARP modified asphalt mixture (ARP-AM), which reaches or even exceeds the road performance of asphalt rubber mixtures (AR-AM) and SBS modified asphalt mixtures (SBS-AM) prepared by wet process. The five asphalt mixtures demonstrate the similar VOCs composition, and the total concentration of VOCs emissions is ARP-AM > AR-AM > ADRP-AM > B-AM > SBS-AM. P-/m-xylene, acetone, benzene, ethylbenzene and substances containing chlorine emerge high concentration for the VOCs composition of the five asphalt mixtures. This research can provide technical support for promoting the widespread application of direct injection asphalt rubber pellets.