Rheological Characteristics of Reacted and Activated Rubber Modified Asphalt Binder

The objective of this study was to address the rheological properties of crumb rubber modified asphalt binder. Reacted and activated rubber (RAR) with different dosages were used to modify the asphalt binder. In addition, a terminal blend rubber modified binder was used as a comparison. The rotational viscosity test was performed to study the effect of crumb rubber contents on the binder's viscosity. The multiple stress creep recovery ( MSCR) test was used to evaluate the rutting resistance of the short-term aged binders. The bending beam rheometer (BBR) test was applied to evaluate the low-temperature performance of the long-term aged asphalt binders. The viscosity of RAR modified asphalt binder increased, with the addition of RAR. The MSCR tests exhibited that the addition of RAR led to an improvement of elastic properties and a decrease in viscous features of the binders. The fatigue resistance of the long-term aged binders was improved with the RAR addition. The RAR modified binder decreased the chance of thermal cracking. In general, the findings from this study showed that the rutting resistance, fatigue cracking performance, and low temperature performance of RAR modified asphalt binder were enhanced.