Effect of Aging on Adhesion and Moisture Damage of Asphalt: A Perspective of Rolling Bottle and Bitumen Bond Strength Test

For better performance of pavement, bond strength in the asphalt mixture should be adequate throughout the service life. Bitumen due to some external factors, such as heat and temperature changes, gets aged which reduces its Service life. To analyze the effect of aging on bond strength of asphalt mixture, a binder is aged using the Rolling Thin Film Oven Test (RTFOT) and Pressure Aging Vessel (PAV). After aging, Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) test is performed to check the stiffens of the virgin binder compared to an aged binder. Bitumen Bond Strength (BBS) and Rolling Bottle Test (RBT) are performed to check the interaction between binder and aggregate as a result of the aging of a binder. BBS tests on virgin and aged binder are performed at 24 h of dry and wet conditioning. BBS test result has shown an improvement in Pull of Tensile Strength (POTS) after RTFOT and PAV aging at 24 h of dry and wet conditioning. In dry conditioning, virgin and RTFOT aged binder follows the cohesive nature of failure and PAV aged binder follows adhesive failure pattern. In wet conditioning, cohesive nature of the failure is observed in virgin, RTFOT, and PAV aged binder, respectively. RBT results have shown a percent increase in the retained coating of binder after RTFOT and PAV aging. It is found that aging increases the resistive property of moisture damage and bond strength of binder.