Performance properties of polymer modified asphalt binders containing wax additives

The study presents an experimental evaluation of the rheological properties of control and polymer modified asphalt (PMA) binders containing wax additives and a comprehensive comparison between these two binder types. The control and PMA binders with the additives were produced using two of the available warm asphalt processes (i.e., LEADCAP and Sasobit) and then artificially short-term and long-term aged using the rolling thin film oven (RTFO) and pressure aging vessel (PAV) procedures. Superpave binder tests were carried out on the binders through the rotational viscometer (RV), the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), and the bending beam rheometer (BBR). In general the results of this study indicated that (1) the addition of wax additives into the control and PMA binders decreases the viscosity, as expected; (2) the reduction rate of viscosity was quite similar for both the binders with wax additives; (3) the percentage increase of rutting resistance due to the additives was much higher for the control binder, compared to the PMA binder; (4) both the control and PMA binders showed the similar trends in terms of fatigue cracking and low temperature cracking behavior after the addition of wax additives.