Improving of Water Resistance of Asphalt Concrete Wearing Course Using Latex-Bitumen Binder

It is well known that presence of water in a bituminous mix is a critical factor which can lead to premature failure of flexible pavements. This requires solutions one of which is to formulate an asphalt mix that has a high resistance to moisture and one way to do this is to mix latex with the asphalt mix. The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate the effect of water on Marshall stability of asphalt concrete wearing course (ACWC) made with a latex-bitumen binder. Latex-bitumen was mixed with aggregate and four levels of latex content were investigated in this study, namely, 0%, 2%, 4% and 6% respectively by weight of asphalt. Wet procces was used in the blending of mixtures. The procedure used to obtain the optimum binder contents conformed to the Marshall procedure (SNI 06-2489-1991). Six Marshall specimens at optimum binder content were prepared for each binder mix investigated. Three of six specimens from each group were tested under Marshall standards. The remaining specimens were tested by immersion in a bath at 60 degrees C for 24 hours. The Marshall index of retained stability was used to evaluate the effect of water on the Marshall stability of ACWC. The results indicated that the addition of up to 4% latex to ACWC mix increased the retained Marshall stability, whereas the addition of latex above 4% decreased the retained stability of the mixture. The addition of 4% CRM significantly improved the retained stability of the mixture and was the best latex - ACWC mix.