Performance evaluation of surface-treated montmorillonite nanoclay-modified bitumen binder at high- and intermediate-temperature conditions

The present study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of surface treated Montmorillonite Nano Clay (NC) on performance of bitumen. The modification of bitumen was prepared using VG-30 grade bitumen with different percentages of NC by weight of bitumen (3% to 6%). Prior to mixing, surface of NC modified with Octadecyl amine and Aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Temperature susceptibility was evaluated using activation energy parameter. Rutting behavior was characterized using temperature sweep and multiple stress creep recovery tests. Fatigue performance was assessed using temperature sweep and linear amplitude sweep tests. Results inferred the potential benefit of NC in lowering the degree of temperature susceptibility. The trend of performance parameters indicate significant improvement in rutting and fatigue cracking resistance. Moreover, optimum dosage of surface treated NC was found to be 4.5% at which the binder showed significant improvement in resistance to rutting, fatigue and high temperature aging without affecting the storage stability property.