Developing unified rheological curves for polymer-modified asphalts - Part II. Experimental verification

The theoretical analysis in Part I of the paper has shown that unified curves call be obtained, in principle, if the rheological data obtained by measurements on the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) are normalized through the use of the material's volumetric-flow rate (MVR) generated from a simple flow measurement device (FMD). In Part II other paper, experimental verification of the unification process is done through systematic data analysis on selected polymer-modified asphalts. The unified curves have far-reaching implications and these have been brought out explicitly. Since MVR is so simple to determine quite accurately on a relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use flow measurement device (FMD), this parameter can be generated on paving sites or at refineries. The MVR can be used as a quality control / quality assurance parameter to ensure batch-to-batch invariance and also as an excellent indicator of the fundamental rheological parameters through the use of the unified curves.