Effect of PET Size, Content and Mixing Process on the Rheological Characteristics of Flexible Pavement

Teyba Wedajo Mahdi; Sanjaya Senadheera; Tewodros Ghebrab

doi:10.3390/ma15103565

Effect of PET Size, Content and Mixing Process on the Rheological Characteristics of Flexible Pavement

Materials (Basel). 2022 May 16;15(10):3565. doi: 10.3390/ma15103565.

Authors

Teyba Wedajo Mahdi¹, Sanjaya Senadheera², Tewodros Ghebrab²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Transportation Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma University, Jimma P.O. Box 378, Ethiopia.
² Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.

Abstract

The performance of asphalt binder reinforced with waste plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was investigated. Penetration, ductility, softening point, and rotational viscosity tests were conducted to check the performance of the PET-reinforced pavement. The rheological properties of the binder were determined using amplitude sweep and frequency sweep tests and performance grade (PG) measurements of aged and unaged specimens. PET size, mix mechanism, and mix temperature significantly influenced the physical properties of the AB and the penetration index (PI). The size and content of PET had pronounced effects on the PI and softening point than the blending temperature. Increasing the size of PET particles from 75 to 150 μm and the content from 0% to 10% of the bitumen resulted in the reduction of the penetration and ductility values from 96 to 85 mm and 100 to 78 cm, respectively, whereas the softening point increased from 46 to 56.6 °C. As a result, the PI value of the binder increased, which indicates that the temperature susceptibility was improved. The addition of 10% PET increased the viscosity of the baseline bitumen by threefold upto a temperature of 135 °C and dropped it by fourfold when the temperature was raised to 165 °C. Increasing the PET from 0% to 10% and the temperature from 21.1 to 54.4 °C increased the critical strain value (LVER) by 96%.

Keywords: PET; asphalt; binder; bitumen; pavement; plastic waste.

Grants and funding

This material is based upon work supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia under Grant No. 23A742. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.