Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Cement-less and asphalt-less concrete bounded by recycled plastic

M.A. Dalhat ⇑, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab
Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

h i g h l i g h t s

Asphalt-less-Cement-less recycled plastic bounded concretes (RPBCs) were formulated.

Some of the RPBCs possessed compressive strength similar to asphalt concretes (ACs).

And some of the RPBCs are as strong as the Portland cement concretes (PCCs).

Crack healing efficiency of the RPBCs is in the order of 92% as opposed to 9% for ACs.

The RPBCs showed lower thermal sensitivity and better moisture resistance than the ACs.

They exhibits better flexural strength than the ACs and PCCs in some cases.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recycled plastic bounded concretes (RPBCs) containing zero asphalt binder and zero Portland cement
Received 5 December 2015 were formulated. Mechanical properties of the RPBCs was analyzed with reference to Portland Cement
Received in revised form 24 April 2016 Concretes (PCCs) and Asphalt Concretes (ACs). Some of the RPBCs possessed compressive strength similar
Accepted 4 May 2016
to the ACs and some even similar to the very strong PCCs. All of the RPBCs exhibited excellent moisture
Available online 14 May 2016
resistance, far better than the ACs in some cases. rPP-bounded concrete exhibits excellent stiffness and a
flexural strength, approximately 3 times that of the PCC and 5 times that of the ACs. The crack healing
Keywords:
efficiency of the RPBCs is in the order of 92% as opposed to 9% for ACs. The RPBCs demonstrate much
Recycled plastics
Asphalt-less
lower thermal sensitivity and better moisture resistance than the ACs. Potential area of application
Cement-less and limitation of the RPBCs were also Identified.
Concretes Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Crack healing
Thermal sensitivity

1. Introduction low-tech recycling alternative is the use of the recycled plastics

More than 300 Million metric tons of plastic waste (PW) is
being globally generated annually as of 2014, this value is expected
to keep rising [1]. Countries with the best recycling rate records
reuses about just 50%, while 90% of the plastic waste end in
landfills in most Countries [1]. Among the high-tech recycling
approaches are: Plastic-Waste-to-Fuel via pyrolysis [2] and
Plastic-Waste-to-Energy via incineration [3]. But the major limita-
tion of these advanced recycling options is their elimination of the
plastic waste without relieving the material demand of such. Thus,
keeping the waste generation and related virgin plastic production
emission growing. Moreover, the Plastic-Waste-to-Energy other
disadvantage is related to the toxic emissions accompanying the
combustion of several types of plastics [4]. The other popular but
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: madab@kfupm.edu.sa, muhammadabdal@gmail.com
(M.A. Dalhat).
wastes in construction or manufacturing processes instead of the
virgin type. Several among this option relieved the demand for
the virgin plastic materials at the same time disposing off the
wastes.
Several research were carried out to explore the potential of PW
in building and construction applications [5–7]. Polymer modified
asphalt is the key component of a high performance flexible pave-
ment [8]. But due to the environmental and cost concern associ-
ated with the use of virgin polymer, PW are being explored as
alternative for asphalt binder modifications [9–14]. Some portion
of the flexible pavement aggregate are also being replaced with
PW [15,16]. A low density AC was obtained by substituting 20%
by volume of aggregate with Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
without significant loss in marshal stability [17]. Up to 30% by
volume of aggregate was replaced by low density polyethylene in
dense graded flexible pavement [18]. The recorded lightness in
weight was offset by loss in indirect tensile strength. Similar loss
in mechanical properties accompanying a decrease in density

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.05.010
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214 207

was observe in a PCC made from polyvinyl chloride aggregate [19]. Table 2
Crack propagation was prevented by incorporating polyethylene Aggregate gradation.

(PE) base waste as aggregate substitute in the concrete [20]. Sieve % Passing asphalt Control point Control point
Recycle PE pallets was also utilized to substitute some proportion size Conc. (Min.) (max)
of sand and cement in a dry cast concrete blocks [21]. Only few 3/400 100 100 –
percentage of the polyethylene could be used without loss in 1/200 95.19 90 100
mechanical strength. A study of curing condition effect on the 3/800 81.81 – –
No. 4 44.00 – –
mechanical performance of plastic waste incorporated concrete No. 8 31.49 28 –
shows a loss in compressive, splitting tensile strength and modulus No. 10 28.49 – –
of elasticity, with increasing content and particle of the PW [22]. No. 16 22.11 – –
Mechanical and physical properties of mortar and concrete con- No. 30 16.11 – –
No. 40 12.40 – –
taining (PET) fine aggregates were studied [23,24]. The PET could
No. 50 11.30 – –
also yield a lighter, much ductile, less thermally conductive and No. 80 9.00 – –
excellent sound insulating concrete [25]. A light weight PET self No. 100 7.89 – –
compacting concrete with acceptable strength was also achieved No. 200 5.19 2 10
[26]. PET was also employed as a substitute in cement plaster, to
produce a low thermal conducting finishing material [27].
The plastic materials was either used as substitute of the aggre- Table 3
gate or portion of the aggregate or partial substitute of the cement Gradation of plastic concrete.

in all these previous research. None of the previous research Sieve size % Passing
attempt to replace the Portland cement or asphalt binder com- 3/800 100
pletely with recycled plastic. But a urea-formaldehyde-based resin 4 37.0
was utilized solely to achieve a compressive strength of 37 MPa 8 12.6
after 7 days curing at 110 °C [28]. This finding did not become pop- 10 5.5
16 0
ular for many reasons: (1) The resin polymer used is from a virgin
source, not commonly available and highly expensive when com-
pared with Portland cement. (2) The high energy requirement of
Table 4
the concrete production due prolong high temperature curing.
Specific gravities of aggregate.
The mechanical properties, crack healing, thermal and moisture
sensitivities of recycle plastic-only bounded concrete is presented Coarse aggregate Fine aggregate Filler
in this study. Recycle high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and recy- Bulk specific gravity 2.47 2.56 2.75
cle polypropylene (rPP) thermoplastic polymers bounded con- Apparent specific gravity 2.74 2.78 2.84
Absorption 1.73 1.04 _
cretes were compared to asphalt concretes (ACs) and Portland
Los Angelis abrasion 27% NA NA
cement concretes (PCCs). Conventional asphalt binder (or Portland
cement in case of rigid pavement) and finer aggregate were com-
pletely replaced with the PW.
identified and isolated from the collected bunch of the plastic
waste with the aid of their recycled label. The plastics are then pro-
2. Materials
cessed and grounded to achieve the desired sizes, ranging from
2.38 mm (sieve No. 8) to 0.297 mm (sieve No. 50). Fig. 1 show a
2.1. Asphalt binders
typical view of the different rPWs.
The performance grade of the neat and polymer modified
2.4. Portland cement
asphalt binders used to prepare reference asphalt concrete is
shown in Table 1.
A regular Portland cement with 3.15 specific gravity and a
chemical composition shown in Table 5 was used in this study.
2.2. Aggregates

The final selected aggregate gradation and properties of the 3. Tests and methods
asphalt concrete are shown in Tables 2 and 4 respectively. An open
gradation of aggregate with maximum size of 4.76 mm was selected 3.1. Plastic waste characterization
for the recycle plastic concrete, as shown in Table 3. This is to facil-
itate homogeneous and continuous linkages of the highly viscous The thermal characterization of the rPWs was carried out
plastic binder within the aggregate skeleton. All the remaining fine through Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) [29] using DSC Q
aggregates were to be replaced by the recycle plastic binder. 1000. Six common types of plastic waste having recycle label rang-
ing from 1 to 6 were analyzed. Polyethylene, polypropylene and
polystyrene were found to possess favorable handling tempera-
2.3. Recycled plastic wastes
tures (below 200 °C). Figs. 2 and 3 showed the DSC results of rHDPE
and rPP. In both cases, all the twin heating and single cooling
The two recycle plastic wastes are selected on the basis of
circles shows a distinct melting and solidifying peaks of a pure
asphalt concrete handling temperature limits. rHDPE and rPP were
homogeneous polymers respectively. The melting points and the
Table 1 corresponding curing temperatures of the rPWs as obtained from
Base asphalt binder properties. the DSC results is summarized in Table 6. The rPW concrete curing
temperatures were obtained within a temperature range that will
Type PG grade Viscosity (cP)
not lead to the polymer decomposition. Temperature much higher
Fresh 64–22 500
than the melting points were selected to enable flow the rPW
Polyethylene modified 76–10 2720
within the aggregate structure.
208 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214

Fig. 1. Image of the processed rPWs.

Table 5 3
Portland cement mineral and oxides composition.

Oxides Weight (%)

Oxides Silica (SiO2) 19.92 2
Alumina (Al2O3) 6.54
Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 2.09
Lime (CaO) 64.70 Heat Flow (W/g) 1
Magnesia (MgO) 1.84
Sulfite (SO3) 2.61
Potassium Oxide (K2O) 0.56
Sodium Oxide(Na2O) 0.28
0
Minerals Tri Calcium silicate (C3S) 55.9
Dicalcium silicate (C2S) 19
Tricalcium aluminate (C3A) 7.5
Tetra calcium alumino ferrite (C4AF) 9.8 -1

-2
4 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Exo Up Universal V3.9A TA
Temperature (°C)

Fig. 3. DSC result of rPP.

2
Heat Flow (W/g)

Table 6
Properties of the rPWs.
0
Polymer Melting point Density (g/ Curing temp Curing time
(°C) cm3) (°C) (h)
rHDPE 132 0.950 195 2.5
-2
rPP 162 0.946 195 1.75

-4
0 50 100 150 200
Exo Up
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 2. DSC result of rHDPE.
3.2. Sample preparation
The asphalt concrete mix were prepared according to AASHTO
superpave volumetric mix design (AASHTO M 323-12). 100 mm
diameter resilient modulus test sample, 50.8 mm cubes for com-
pressive strength and 34  34  160 mm beams for flexural
strength test were carved out from a compacted asphalt concrete
with the aid of a concrete cutter. Similar test samples geometry
for the recycle plastic concrete were obtained by mixing appropri-
ate amount aggregate with 22% of a rPW by weight of the aggregate.
The combination was then placed inside a metallic mold and cured
inside the oven at an appropriate curing temperature for a specified
duration (see Table 6). The sample is then mildly compacted with
aid of a tamper after it cools to a moldable temperature. Using 25
blows with a 2 kg tamper for the beams and cubes, a standard
250 300
Universal V3.9A TA marshal mix tamper for 100 mm diameter sample. Fig. 4 shows
some typical images of the various types of molded and carved
AC and recycle plastic concrete test samples. Two types of Portland
Cement Concrete (PCC) samples were similarly casted and cured for
28 days (in water) using similar gradation as the plastic concretes.
The first type (PC-1) contains equivalent content of recycle plastic
by volume of cement (cement to aggregate ratio of 1:5), and the
second type (PC-2) with equivalent amount by weight of recycle
plastic of the cement content. In both cases, 0.36 water-to-
cement ratio was maintained. Atleast two replicate for each test
sample were prepared, and more than two in most cases.
3.3. Curing time
The optimal curing time of the various recycled plastic bounded
concretes (RPBC) was obtained by testing the compressive strength
 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214 209

Fig. 4. Plastic and asphalt concrete typical samples.

of samples cured at increasing duration, until no significant 3.4. Concrete tests summary
improvement in strength is noticed. The results summary of curing
time optimization are shown in Table 7. 1 h 45 min was found to Compressive strength of the bituminous and plastic concrete
be the optimum for rPP and rPS concrete, while 2 h 30 min was was obtained according to standard test method for compressive
opted for rHDPE bounded concrete. strength of bituminous mixtures [30]. The estimate of the plastic
Fig. 5 showed the density variation of the RPBC with the curing concrete Poisson ratio was obtained by monitoring the lateral
time. The density seemed to be directly proportional to the com- and vertical strain with the aid of strain gauges mounted on the
pressive strength for rPP and rHDPE within the shown curing dura- compressive test sample. The moisture sensitivity of the plastic
tion. The rPW flow and fill the pore within the aggregate at and bituminous concretes was determined based on standard test
elevated temperature with time. The aggregates also move closer method for effect of water on compressive strength of compacted
in the process until they are touching, creating a stone to stone bituminous mixtures ([31] or AASHTO T165). Flexural strength of
skeleton within the plastic film matrix. This resulted to the the concrete beams was established according to standard test
increase density as well as compressive strength. method for flexural strength of concrete [32]. The crack healing
abilities of the plastic and the bituminous concrete were obtained
by re-testing a fail flexural strength test sample after heat treat-
ment at 190 °C for 1 h. The ratio of the flexural strength of the
Table 7 heat-treated sample to that of the original sample gives the per-
Compressive strength (MPa). cent crack healing. The resilient modulus of the plastic and asphalt
Curing time (h) rPP rHDPE concrete were determined in accordance with SHRP protocol 107.
1.25 24.49 9.11
1.5 – 9.29 4. Results and discussion
1.75 30.40 –
2.00 30.37 –
4.1. Compressive strength
2.25 – 10.29
2.50 – 10.40
The compressive strength of the recycle plastic concrete PCC
and AC were presented in Fig. 6. Portland cement equivalent in
weight to the amount of recycled plastics (PC-2) was not sufficient
enough to yield the usual high compressive strength of a PCC for
1.7
rPP-bounded Conc. @ 195
o
C the selected open gradation utilized in the rP-concrete. Both types
rHDPE-boundec Conc.@ 195
o
C of AC (modified and Neat) showed approximately the same com-
1.6 pressive strength, but differs only in the amount of strain sustained
for the same load as shown in Fig. 8. rHDPE-bounded concrete pos-
sessed compressive load resistance of similar magnitude to that of
Density (g/cm )

1.5
3

the ACs. However, rPP-bounded concrete exhibit an amazingly

very high compressive strength (30 Mpa), almost three times that
1.4
of the ACs, and comparable only to the much harder PCC. The rPP
flows much easily in molten state, there by forming much denser
1.3 and continuous matrix around the aggregate skeleton than the
rHDPE (Fig. 11). Plus the strength of pure PP is higher than that
1.2
of pure HDPE, for the same dimension and testing condition [33].

4.2. Compressive failure modes

1.1
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Curing Time (Hours) Fig. 7 shows some typical images of the compressive loading
failure modes of the plastic concretes. Failure occurs due to both
Fig. 5. Density of the recycled plastic concrete with curing time. splitting of asphalt-aggregate boundary and the aggregate itself in
210 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214

rHDPE-bounded 10.29

rPP-bounded 30.4

Polymer Mod. AC 11.55

Neat-AC 11.01

PC-2 8.4

PC-1 32

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Compressive Strength (MPa)

Fig. 6. Compressive strength of recycle plastic concrete.

Fig. 7. Failure mode of plastic concrete and AC.

100%

35.0 95%

90%
Retained Strength Index (RSI)

85%
30.0
80%

75%
25.0 95%
70%
86% 85%
83%
65%
Stress (MPa)

20.0
60%

55%
15.0
50%
Neat-AC Polymer Mod. rPP-bounded rHDPE-bonnded
AC
10.0
Fig. 9. Moisture sensitivity of the RPBCs.

5.0
the case of AC (Fig. 7A). Failure did not manifested in the
rPP-bounded concrete until the aggregates were crushed followed
0.0 by the splitting of the confining rPP skin (Fig. 7B). This gave the
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 rPP-concrete added compressive resistance. As in the case of AC,
Strain (milistrain) rHDPE-bounded concrete failed from both aggregate crushing and
Neat AC Polymer Mod. AC rHDPE-aggregate boundary splitting (Fig. 7C). Based on these obser-
rPP-bounded Conc. rHDPE-bounded Conc vations, the quality of aggregate will control to a large extent the
compressive strength of the rPP-bounded concrete than the AC
Fig. 8. Stress-strain plots of the plastic and asphalt concrete. and rHDPE-concrete.
 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214
0.08%
0.09%
0.08%
Bending Resistance (mm/N)
0.07%
0.06%
0.04%
0.03%
0.05%
0.03%
0.04%
0.02%
0.03%
0.01%
0.02%
0.01%
0.00%
Fig. 10. Bending stiffness of RPBCs.
4.3. Stress-strain relationship of the AC and Plastic concrete
The stress-strain plot of the plastic concretes under compres-
sive loading was compared to the asphalt concretes as shown in
Fig. 8. The asphalt concrete sustained lesser stain under similar
compressive loading than the plastic concretes. Since all the recy-
cle plastic are known to be stiffer than the pure asphalt binder
(either polymer modified), then this observation could be attribu-
ted to the considerable amount of finer material that stiffen the
asphalt coating the aggregate. While in the case of the particular
plastic concrete, the open gradation contain no finer aggregate
(or filler). This could be rectified by working on plastic concrete
gradation just the way the AC concrete gradation was perfected
over the span of several decades. There was no significant differ-
ence in failure stress between the two types of AC and rHDPE-
bounded concrete. rPP-bounded concrete shows a significantly
higher failure strength than all the AC and rHDPE-concretes. This
is due to the tough nature of rPP, enabling it to confine the aggre-
gates even more as the stress increases. The asphalt binder lacks
this property, even the polymer modified one. The load never drop
to signal any failure throughout the loading period. The
rPP-concrete limit was established based on the appearance of
cracks on the loaded sample surface.
Fig. 11. Internal structure of the RPBCs.
211
Table 8
Poisson ratio.
Min. Max. Average Stress range (MPa)
rPP-bounded Conc. 0.14 0.31 0.3 12–18
rHDPE-bounded Conc. 0.22 0.44 0.4 3.2–6.8
4.4. Poisson ratio
The Poisson ratio of the rP-concretes were estimated within the
linear stress-strain range under compression. Table 8 has summa-
rized the obtained results from minimum to maximum and the
average. The rPP-bounded concrete shows an average Poisson ratio
value of 0.3. While the rHDPE-bounded concrete has the highest
tendency of expanding laterally when axially compressed as com-
pared to the rPP-concrete. It shows an average Poisson ratio of 0.4
under compression.
4.5. Moisture sensitivity
Moisture is among the major causes of AC damage (such a strip-
ping), unlike PCC. Most standard design procedures of AC have a
provision for checking the moisture resistance of the design AC.
All agreed on at least 80% retained strength after subjection of AC
sample to an extreme moisture condition. The Neat and modified
AC utilized in this study have passed that requirement. But from
Fig. 9, the RPBC showed better resistance to moisture than the
ACs. For example, rPP-bounded concrete shows only 5% loss in
strength due to moisture, while the neat asphalt concrete sustained
17% drop in strength. But the rHDPE-concrete moisture resistance
was not far from the ACs. The asphalt binder has the ability to bind
as well as to completely coat the aggregate, thus minimizing the
moisture exposure of the aggregate. While some of the recycle plas-
tic concrete could bind but not necessarily coat the aggregate, espe-
cially in the rHDPE concrete. The loss in strength of the RPBC has a
lot to do with the strength of the aggregate in dry and wet condi-
tion. The aggregate used is of a sedimentary rock type (Limestone),
with high water absorption. The rHDPE was not as efficient as rPP
due to it’s in ability to confine the aggregate, in addition to the
aggregate strength influence on the rHDPE-concrete compressive
strength, as observe in the failure modes (Fig. 7C).
4.6. Bending resistance, flexural strength and crack healing tendency
4.6.1. Bending resistance
The bending resistance of the RPBCs, ACs and the PCC were
obtained from the results of the flexural strength test, by taking
the ratio of the maximum deflection recorded to its corresponding
212 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214
maximum flexural load. As anticipated, the PCCs possessed the
highest deflection resistance due to their very rigid nature. The
PPCs deflect approximately 0.00021 mm for each single Newton
of applied load, as shown in Fig. 10. The next to the PCCs in rigidity
is rPP-bounded concrete, deflecting 0.00028 mm per each Newton
of load applied. The ACs deflect by about 0.00034 mm and
0.0004 mm per Newton for the Neat and Polymer modified AC
respectively. The rHDPE-bounded concrete demonstrate the lowest
bending resistance when compared to all the concretes, with a
deflection as high as 0.00079 mm/N. The internal structure of the
rHDPE-bounded concrete shown in Fig. 11 could help explain its
relatively lower bending resistance when compared to rPP or AC.
4.6.1.1. Internal structure of RPBC and AC. The internal aggregate-
binder structure of the RPBCs and the AC is captured from a sliced
section of the various concretes and shown in Fig. 11. Even though
the RPBCs test samples were prepared in the same manner, the
recycle plastic binders behave differently during the curing (melt-
ing and solidifying) and compaction process. The rPP-concrete
shows a stone on stone internal arrangement with the rPP within
the aggregate pores (Fig. 11B). It’s aggregate spacing is even
narrower than that of the AC (Fig. 11A), which further explains
the higher bending resistance. However, thickness of the rHDPE
films surrounding the aggregate is relatively higher (Fig. 11C),
warranting more deformation under loading. This is another factor
which results in the rHDPE having the lowest bending resistance.
The AC could show a thick asphalt film enclosing the aggregate,
however, these films are highly stiff due to the dense nature of
the AC gradation (large amount of fines unlike the open graded
RPBC gradation).
4.6.2. Modulus of rupture and crack healing
Fig. 12 shows the flexural strength of the RPBCs, ACs and the
PCC in mega Pascal. The rPP-bounded concrete showed an excel-
lent bending strength, approximately 3 times that of the strong
PCC and 5 times that of the ACs. This is due to the tougher nature
of rPP plastic in tension if compared to the other binders. The
rHDPE-concrete showed similar but higher bending strength when
compared to both neat and Polymer modified ACs. The
rPP-bounded concrete turn out to be stiffer and stronger in bend-
ing than the asphalt concrete. While the rHDPE-bounded concrete
is only slightly stronger than the ACs.
Several approaches were proposed to improve the crack healing
ability of an AC, but none is yet be widely adopted due to practical-
ity issue. The two main methods are [34]: (1) incorporating
PC-1
PC-2
Neat AC
Polymer Mod. AC
rPP-bounded Conc
16
rHDPE-bounded Conc.
14
Modulus of Rupture (MPa)
12
10
8 6000
6
4
2
0 0
Modulus of Rupture
Fig. 12. Modulus of rupture and crack healing tendency of RPBCs.
thermal conducting fibers that could efficiently heat the AC via
induction, hence solidifying and healing the cracks. (2) Incorporat-
ing maltenes substance enclosed capsules within the AC structure,
hence AC cracking will trigger the release of the maltenes that will
soften the asphalt binder which then seal the failed spot after
solidifying. All these approaches were explored due the in ability
of repairing the AC by direct heating. The percent retained strength
of failed flexural strength test after heat treatment is presented in
Fig. 12. None of the ACs was able to regain even 10% of its initial
bending strength. But RPBCs recovered almost all their flexural
strength. rPP- and rHDPE-bounded concrete recovered 99 and
85% of their modulus of rupture respectively. Existing equipment
such a the infrared pavement heaters used in carrying out pave-
ment maintenance could be easily improved to carry out the crack
repair of this type of plastic concrete.
4.7. Resilient modulus (MR)
The resilient modulus of an AC is the measure of its elastic
response to loading. AC high temperature defects such as rutting
and shoving manifest within some few critical days of the year
with the highest recorded annual temperatures. But once these
defect occur, they stay for the rest of the pavement life unless
repaired (which is highly costly). Fig. 13 shows the variation of
RPBCs and ACs resilient modulus with increase in service temper-
ature. The polymer modified AC showed the highest MR followed
by the Neat asphalt at 22 °C. But the rPP-bounded concrete outper-
formed the neat and polymer modified AC at 26 and 32 °C respec-
tively. The rHDPE-bounded concrete shows a resilient modulus of
an average AC concrete throughout the test temperature range.
This could also be attributed to its internal structure as shown in
Fig. 11. But it beats the Neat AC at 36 °C, a common service temper-
ature of most climates. It can be concluded that the RPBCs will sus-
tain lesser permanent deformation than the ACs at high service
temperatures.
Fig. 14 shows the average magnitude of loss in MR per each
degree centigrade rise in temperature of the RPBCs and ACs. The
polymer modified AC demonstrate the highest rate of loss in MR
followed by the Neat AC. Even though the rHDPE-bounded con-
crete exhibit the lowest MR, it has the lowest rate of modulus loss
with increasing temperature. This makes perfect sense, given the
high heat capacity of the thick polyethylene layer surrounding
the aggregates as compared to the filled asphalt mastic of the
ACs. Generally, the RPBCs demonstrate much lower thermal sensi-
tivity than the ACs.
12000
Neat AC
Polymer Mod AC
100
10000 rPP-bounded Conc.
Resilient Modulus (MPa)
rHDPE-bounded Conc.
80
8000
% Crack Healing
60
40
4000
20
2000
20 25 30 35 40 45 50
o
% Crack Healing Temperature ( C)
Fig. 13. Resilient modulus of RPBC and AC vs. temperature.
 M.A. Dalhat, H.I. Al-Abdul Wahhab / Construction and Building Materials 119 (2016) 206–214 213

required in casting an RPBC is not far from the energy consume

Resilient Modulus drop (MPa) Per C rise in Temp.

0
in heating and mixing the aggregate with asphalt binder in the case
of asphalt pavement construction. But in depth energy demand
-50
analysis is needed for comparison with cement base composites.
-100
o

Conflict of interest
-150
The authors wish to declare that they have no conflict of
-200 interest.

-250 Acknowledgments
Neat AC
Polymer Mod. AC
-300 rPP-bounded Conc The authors acknowledge the support provided by King Fahd
rHDPE-bounded Conc.
University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, KSA, in
-350 carrying out this research.

Fig. 14. Thermal susceptibility of the RPBCs.

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