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Abstract
In literature, fatigue properties are most often measured on asphalt mixes, and little attention has
been given to a possible fatigue property of the binder itself. At the Nynas Group Competence
Center (GCC) a method to study the fatigue resistance of bituminous binders with a dynamic shear
rheometer is under development. Experimental evidence shows that repetitive shear oscillations can
generate a fatigue failure provided the stiffness is above a certain value, or indirectly that the
temperature is low enough. Crack formation and growth is seen as a steadily decrease in modulus
with increasing number of oscillations. Measurements have mostly been done under controlled
stress conditions, with initial strains varying from 0.004 to 0.015. Due to the fact that the fatigue
phenomenon is only observed at higher stiffness values (e.g. 20 to 50 MPa), one must however
ensure that the measurements are not biased by the compliance of the equipment.
As is well known for many other materials, the number of oscillations needed to produce failure
shows a linear dependency to the applied initial strain in a log-log plot. However, the slope and
position of these lines is binder specific, and changes with polymer modification or oxidative
ageing treatments. Up to now, no correlation with the SHRP fatigue parameter could be obtained
(binders with similar G*sin values may show very significantly different fatigue lines). An
intrinsic behaviour could be evidenced in the case of straight-run pure bitumens of the same crude
origin. When testing different penetration grades (in this case, ranging from 15 dmm to 90 dmm) at
a fixed stiffness level (thus at different temperatures), one obtains approximately a unique fatigue
line !
So far, only a limited number of direct comparisons between binder and asphalt mix fatigue lines is
available. These results show a good agreement in the case of pure bitumens but which is less
satisfactory in the case of polymer modified binders. The planned continuation for these investigations
is to evaluate the potential impact of rest periods.
Table 1.
Sample ID
B15
B65
B90
B180
SOx35
Ox20
Description
Straight-run
Straight-run
Straight-run
Straight-run
Slightly oxidised
Severely-oxidised
Pen (mm/10)
17
70
94
192
35
20
R&B (C)
62
47
45
37.9
55
66.5
performed with a 2 mm gap setting, the reason for this will be discussed together with the experimental
difficulties. In order to observe fatigue cracking, the stiffness of the binder needs to be high enough.
For example the sample B90, showed a fatigue cracking at stiffness levels between 10 MPa and 50
MPa. In this range, repeated sinusoidal oscillations, controlled stress as well as controlled strain
deformations, lead after a certain number of loadings to an abrupt decrease in modulus. In case of
constant stress measurements, the sample completely breaks, and lower and upper plates are separated
after the test. In the case of controlled strain measurements, the decrease in modulus levels off at a
much lower value as the initial stiffness level. In these tests the frequencies were between 10Hz and
50Hz. Since the stiffness of the binders needs to be high, the different penetration grades could not be
compared at a constant temperature. Instead, they were compared at a constant value of G*. Thus, the
test temperatures were adapted.
Microscopy:
The microscopic photographs presented in this paper were made by Peter Westerlund, Bergstrm
Instrument AB, Solna, Sweden.
G*, (Pa)
1e+8
B90, 6.5oC
B15, 20o C
o
B65 + 3.5% SBS, 8.5 C
B90 + 5% EVA, 8.5oC
1e+7
1e+1
1e+2
1e+3
1e+4
Time, (s)
Figure 2A.
Figure 2B.
Figure 2C.
Experimental considerations:
Since the stiffness of these samples is high, compliance errors may effect the measurements. To
investigate this, stiffness measurements for the same sample were made at different gap settings, as
shown in figure 4. As the gap decreases, compliance effects influence the measurements, and the
measured stiffness deviates from the true stiffness. The measurement at a gap of 2 mm is still similar
to the measurements made at higher gaps, for the stiffness range investigated here. This indicates that
compliance errors are inapplicable.
In order to improve the repeatability of these measurements, some other experimental factors had to be
controlled carefully: a good adhesion of the sample to both plates was assured by heating the samples
in the rheometer to a high temperature (60C-80C, depending on the samples stiffness) before
trimming and starting the measurement. Trimming had to be done very carefully in order to get a
constant outward bulge of the sample, and temperature gradients inside the sample had to be kept as
small as possible (<0.2C). This has required certain modifications to the temperature control of the
rheometer.
Evaluation of different parameters:
The different binders listed in table 1, were not compared at a constant temperature but at a constant
value of G*. So the test temperatures were adapted. After some initial testing under different
conditions, the final measurement conditions for these samples were set at 50Hz for the frequency,
and 20 MPa for G*, and the tests were performed under constant stress. In figure 5, the
measurement points and regression lines are shown. These bitumen differ only in penetration. The
test temperature for each sample is indicated in the graph. As one can see, all measurements seem
to be similar within the precision of this test, indicating that fatigue resistance is fairly independent
of the penetration grade as such, at least as long as the same crude origin and manufacturing process
is used. However, the stiffer samples will exhibit fatigue cracking at already much higher
temperatures than the softer grades. This independence of penetration grade was also found for
measurements under constant strain (not shown).
In figure 6, the measurements for straight-run together with oxidized samples are shown. Upon
oxidation the slopes of the lines become steeper, oxidized samples are more resistant to fatigue at
low levels of strain, but at high strain levels oxidized samples are very prone to fatigue failure.
For practical purposes, this would indicate that for roads with heavy traffic and thin layers, which
have high stresses and strains, highly oxidized products may show more fatigue cracking. On the
contrary, roads with thick layers and only light traffic, oxidized products may even become
beneficial regarding fatigue resistance. Furthermore, upon oxidation the temperatures at which
fatigue occurs in our test, are also higher than for straight run samples.
In this study, also aged and polymer modified samples were included. Aging has an effect similar
to oxidation. The fatigue line becomes steeper and more strain dependent. As a result of increasing
stiffness, the test temperature for the aged sample is higher compared to the non-aged product. For
Pmb samples, the polymer modification can have a positive effect on the fatigue behavior, as seen
in figures 1 and 3, but this positive effect was not always observed. Especially low volumes of
added polymers showed only little improvement.
Comparison with the SHRP fatigue parameter:
Finally, we have compared this fatigue failure with the SHRP parameter, G*.sin(phase) for fatigue. A
correlation could only be found for the 4 straight run, non modified samples, since their SHRP
parameters and fatigue lines were very alike. However, for (all) the oxidized and modified samples
used, no correlation could be found. An example is shown in figure 1, since these four binders were
actually evaluated at temperatures where they had the same SHRP parameter.
1e+5
1e+4
o
B65, 15 C
B65 + 3,5% SBS, 15oC
1e+3
0,01
Initial Strain
3.0 mm gap
2.5 mm
2.0 mm
1.5 mm
1.0 mm
0.47 mm
0.35 mm
cone-plate
G*, (Pa)
1e+8
1e+7
20
30
40
50
Phase, degree
60
B15, 33.0 C
Regr.
B65, 20.5o C
Regr.
o
B90, 18.0 C
Regr.
B180, 12.5o C
Regr.
10000
1000
100
0,001
0,01
0,1
Initial Strain
10000
Straight-run
Regr
Sox35, 24oC
Regr
o
Ox20, 29 C
Regr
1000
100
0,001
0,01
Initial Strain
0,1
Below a certain temperature, bitumen binders exhibit fatigue cracking, which can be measured
by applying continuous cyclic shear loadings, as for example in a dynamic shear rheometer.
Different penetration grades have the same fatigues line if tested at a constant value for G*.
Upon oxidation and after aging, fatigue lines become more strain dependent.
Polymer modification can have a positive effect on the fatigue life, but this is not general.
No correlation with the SHRP fatigue parameter could be established.
So far, our results suggest a good correlation with fatigue mix tests for non-modified binders, less
correlation for PMB`s
References
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