Effect of functional chemical admixtures on the performance of cement asphalt mortar used in ballastless track

Chemical admixtures are of paramount importance to the performance of modern cement based composites. In this paper, we performed a series of tests to investigate the effects of chemical admixtures on the cement asphalt mortar (CA mortar), i e, compressive strength, frost resistance, permeability, fatigue resistance, pore structure and microstructure. In particular, two types of chemical admixtures were tested, i e, defoamer (tributyl phosphate (TBP)) and polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PS). The results indicate that the addition of TBP and PS eliminates big bubbles and promotes small non-connected pores forming in matrix. Besides, an optimum dosage of TBP and PS may be determined with respect to the frost resistance, permeability and fatigue resistance of CA mortar. Further elaborative discussions are presented as well as experimental evidences from mercury intrusion porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy.