Incorporation of Rubber Powder as Filler in a New Dry-Hybrid Technology: Rheological and 3D DEM Mastic Performances Evaluation

In recent years, the use of crumb rubber as modifier or additive within asphalt concretes has allowed obtaining mixtures able to bind high performances to recovery and reuse of discarded tires. To date, the common technologies that permit the reuse of rubber powder are the wet and dry ones. In this paper, a dry-hybrid technology for the production of Stone Mastic Asphalt mixtures is proposed. It allows the use of the rubber powder as filler, replacing part of the limestone one. Fillers are added and mixed with a high workability bitumen, modified with SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene) polymer and paraffinic wax. The role of rubber powder and limestone filler within the bituminous mastic has been investigated through two different approaches. The first one is a rheological approach, which comprises a macro-scale laboratory analysis and a micro-scale DEM simulation. The second, instead, is a performance approach at high temperatures, which includes Multiple Stress Creep Recovery tests. The obtained results show that the rubber works as filler and it improves rheological characteristics of the polymer modified bitumen. In particular, it increases stiffness and elasticity at high temperatures and it reduces complex modulus at low temperatures. © 2016 by the authors.