United States Department of Transportation
i
Impact of Recycled Plastic on Asphalt Binder and Mixture Performance
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2022-08-01
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[PDF-1.15 MB]
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Corporate Contributors:United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology ; New Jersey Department of Transportation ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
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Edition:Final Report, February 2021 to August 2022
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Abstract:The concept of recycling plastic waste in new plastic products can greatly reduce the dependence of landfill space while conserving resources and protecting the environment. However, recent statistics indicate that only approximately 8% of all plastic waste in the US is actually reused. There is limited recent data on the impact of plastic waste on asphalt binder and mixture performance. A research study was conducted to evaluate the impact of three different plastic waste materials on asphalt binder and mixture performance; Polyolefins, thermoplastics, and co-block plastic polymer. For this study, the wet process of introducing the plastic waste to asphalt was utilized in an effort to minimize the potential for undigested plastic material and micro-plastics. The study indicated that separation of the plastic waste, even after high shear milling, can be problematic at higher dosage rates. While both the polyolefin and co-block plastic waste were found to shift the PG grade properties warmer, the thermoplastic plastic waste showed negligible change in the high temperature grade while slightly improving the low temperature properties. Similar performance trends were found when utilizing rheological and fracture-based asphalt binder testing after different conditioning levels. After showing good asphalt binder performance, the thermoplastic plastic waste was preblended in a PG64-22 asphalt binder and used in mixture performance testing. Compared to a PG64-22 and SBS modified PG76-22, mixture performance testing showed the PW modified mixture had better rutting resistance than the neat PG64-22, while showing equal to better fatigue and low temperature cracking performance. The study indicates that the use of plastic waste in asphalt materials may be viable and actually provide a benefit when compared to unmodified asphalt materials.
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