Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Mustaque Hossain / Hot in-place recycling (HIR) preserves distressed asphalt pavements while minimizing use of virgin binder and aggregates. The final quality of an HIR mixture depends on characteristics of the original binder, aging of the pavement surface during service, and whether or not new binder or rejuvenator was added to the mixture. An HIR mixture should maintain desired properties for additional service periods, making asphalt binder modification inevitable. Asphalt binder modifications in HIR are commonly done by adding an asphalt rejuvenating agent (ARA). However, ARA may adversely affect the qualities of new HIR and potentially fail to improve the quality of the final surface. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of rejuvenation on HIR performance characteristics by assessing critical performance indicators such as stiffness, permanent deformation, moisture susceptibility, and cracking resistance. A two-step experimental program was designed that included mechanical property measurements of the HIR mixture and rheological properties of the extracted binder. The level of mixing occurring between new and aged binder with ARA was also investigated. HIR Samples were obtained from three Kansas Department of Transportation projects, and Hamburg wheel-tracking device, dynamic modulus, flow number, Texas overlay, thermal stress restrained specimen, and moisture susceptibility tests were conducted on mixtures with and without ARA. Rheological studies on the extracted binder included dynamic shear rheometer and bending beam rheometer tests. The miscibility of new and aged binder was investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), and the exudation droplet test (EDT). Study results showed significant variability in the mechanical performance of HIR mixtures, which was attributed to the variability of binders as observed in EDT, SEM and EDXS studies. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) showed that HIR is an economic maintenance alternative for asphalt projects in Kansas. LCCA results exhibited that pavement design strategies with HIR activities will result in alternatives with lower net present values when compared to alternatives without HIR maintenance activities.

La croissance de caution vis-à-vis l'utilisation des produits pétroliers dans la construction a nécessité le besoin de développement des alternatives. Le BTP, en particulaire pour le secteur routière, a un certain nombre des piste ou les produits pétrolières ont utilisés, par exemple le liant pour les enrobés comme les agents régénérant (pour recyclage des enrobés), mais aussi le produits qui sont utilisés sur le chantier comme les anti-adhérents (ARA) et les débituminants (BR). Alors, il y a une besoin de remplacer les produits d'origines pétrolières par les alternatives bio-sourcés. Ce présent ouvre est une partie d'un projet qui va développer une nouvelle filière dédiée à la production de nouvelles formulations pour le BTP à partir de la transformation des huiles végétales et des graisses animales. Ce thèse concerne les produits développés seront destinés au l'asphalte, et alors, deux types d'applications sont particulièrement visés : (i) des agents anti-adhérents et (ii) des agents régénérants. Un débituminant sera développé aussi. Les produits anti-adhérents ont pour fonction d'empêcher le bitume d'adhérer aux engins de travaux sans effet secondaire, théoriquement, sur la matrice liante.. L'objet du travail est de caractériser l'efficacité et l'innocuité des agents anti-adhérents développés dans le cadre du projet et de développer les méthodes expérimentales visant à les évaluer. Trois essais principaux ont été développés pour caractériser la performance et innocuité des anti-adhérents vis-à-vis des essais qui ont optimisé leur implémentation et paramètres. La performance des anti-adhérents a été caractérisé par l'essai de glissance des enrobés. L'innocuité des anti-adhérents ont été caractérisés par des essais de fendage sur les enrobés et par l'essai de la dégradation de bitume. L'essai de la dégradation de bitume a servi aussi comme une mesure de la performance de débituminant. Les essais sur les anti-adhérents commerciaux d'Etats-Unis et la France a trouvé que ils ont deux modes de fonctionnement : i) lixiviation du bitume et ii) en formation d'une interface entre le les enrobés et la surface métallique. Même comme les deux modes ont été trouvé dans des certains anti-adhérents, le mode interface ont été trouvé préférable, grâce à l'option de garder les mêmes applications du produit pour plusieurs cycles de usage. Ensuite, un produit - basé sur glycérol sourcé de l'agro-industrie - a été développé. Les débituminants commerciaux ont été essayé, aves les conclusions : i) les débituminants plus effectifs ont eu les plus grande % des esters et ii) que les esters chaines courtes (C7-10) d'hautes concentrations ont été trouvé les plus efficace. L'agent régénérant est destiné à régénérer le bitume vieilli issu des agrégats d'enrobés (RAP) en lui redonnant ses propriétés originelles et en assurant leur maintien dans le temps. Le travail sur les agents régénérants se compose de la caractérisation physico-chimique du vieillissement du bitume et du bitume vieilli avec l'agent. Plus précisément, le travail se serve des techniques de spectrométrie IRTF (avec imagerie) et thermogravimétrie. Dans ce contexte, une produit bio-sourcé a été évalué comme une régénérant. Pour la spectroscopie FTIR, une moyenne de polir le mastique a été développé pour rassuré la platitude des échantillons. La régénération du bitume a été observé avec la spectrométrie ITRF, donc quelques peaks (notamment les indices IC=O and IS=O) pendant 0-42 jours de vieillissement dans l'étuve (loin-durée). Il a été trouvé qu'une période de vieillissement de 14 jours à l'étuve était à peu près équivalente au bitume vieilli par un cycle de RTFOT + PAV en termes de rhéologie et de la pénétration. Le mastic (vieilli 14 jours) a ensuite été mélangé avec un agent de bio-source (à 7,5% en poids de mastic). Il a été constaté par imagerie FTIR que l'indicateur de l'oxydation IS=O a été réduit par l'incorporation de l'agent régénérant dans le bitume. / The growing health and environmental concerns brought on by the use of petroleum based products in the asphalt construction industry have necessitated the development of alternatives. Infrastructure, especially that involving transportation has many uses for petroleum products including, as fuel, as well as in asphalt pavement construction - where petroleum products have traditionally constituted the binder for the mix as well as the rejuvenating agents (for asphalt recycling) - along with various agents used in the construction process including bitumen removers and asphalt release agents. Thus, there is a need to replace petroleum base agents with bio-sourced and biodegradable substitutes. The present work is part of a project to develop bio-sourced (recycled from agricultural waste) products for the construction industry. This work is dedicated to developing products relating to the asphalt industry. Two types of product applications were envisioned: i) an asphalt release agent (ARA) and ii) an asphalt rejuvenating agent. Additionally, a bitumen remover (BR) developed as part of the work on the ARA. ARAs prevent asphalt from adhering to tools and equipment used in asphalt production, without producing overly negative side effects with regards to the pavement. Three principal tests methods were developed and optimized for the performance and damage to asphalt of the ARAs. The asphalt slide test was developed to quantify the performance of the ARA by sliding hot asphalt mix down a plate with the ARA applied. The testing of the damage to asphalt from ARAs consisted of testing an asphalt cylinder - in contact with an ARA for seven days - in indirect-tensile strength (ITS). The bitumen degradation test consisted of submerging a bitumen sample in an agent over a certain time and weighing the bitumen that did not dissolve in the agent. This was followed by the observation of the bitumen-ARA chemical interaction by FTIR spectrometry. This test served as an assessment of ARA damage to bitumen as well as of the performance of BRs. The testing of the commercial ARAs from both the French and USA markets found that they had two primary modes of functioning: i) by softening the bitumen and ii) by forming an interface between the asphalt and the metal surface. While some agents had elements of both, it was found that interface agents are preferable, due to the ability to use a single ARA application for multiple occasions. With this completed, a water-based bio-sourced substrate ARA - based on glycerol derived from agricultural waste - was developed. The commercially available BRs were tested as well, finding that i) the most effective BRs had the highest ester concentration and ii) that highly concentrated short chained ester (C7-10) were very effective bitumen dissolvers. The goal of rejuvenating agents is to regenerate the old bitumen from recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) by restoring the original properties and ensuring the stability of these properties over time. This part consisted of the development of methods for bitumen and aging, as well as characterization of the chemical rejuvenation of bitumen by FTIR spectrometry (including imaging) and thermogravimetric analysis. A bio-sourced rejuvenating agent was evaluated as well. For the imaging, a mastic polishing method was developed in order to attain as samples as flat as possible for the analysis. The bitumen rejuvenation was observed using FTIR spectroscopy analysis. Several peaks (notably IC=O and IS=O) were observed for bitumen oven aged up to 42 days (long term). It was found that an oven aging period of 14 days was roughly equivalent to bitumen aged by a RTFOT+PAV cycle it terms of rheology and penetration. The mastic (aged for 14 days) was then combined with a bio-sourced agent (at 7.5%w of mastic). It was found by FTIR imaging that the oxidation indicator IS=O, was reduced by the incorporation of the rejuvenating agent.

The diploma thesis is focused on the appropriate dosage of rejuvenating agents in asphalt mixtures with high content of RAP. The empirical and functional laboratory tests are described in the theoretical part. The practical part deals with the estimation of the optimal amount of rejuvenating agents by means of laboratory tests so that the rheological properties of the degraded asphalt binder can be restored by suitable dosing into the RAP. As part of the TAČR ZÉTA project, an experimental section of asphalt mixture containing 50 % of the RAP and an appropriate amount of the rejuvenating agents was created. The aim of the thesis is to find an optimal dosage of the rejuvenating agents in the samples of the RAP and laboratory aged asphalt binder of gradation 50/70, to determine the effectiveness of selected rejuvenating agents and to monitor changes in the parameters of the experimental section during the period of time.