Evaluating the Performance of Hot Mix Asphalt with Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement and Heavy Vacuum Slops as Rejuvenator

Due to the high price of crude oil, and consequently asphalt binder, the application of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in pavement technology is widely considered. The present paper is the result of a laboratory research which was carried out to investigate the effects of adding a rejuvenating agent to Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) with RAP. To this end, test samples comprised of Aged Asphalt Binder (AAB) that were extracted from RAP, together with a rejuvenating agent were added in different ratios. The study made use of a variety of tests to determine the different percentage ratios of rejuvenator in terms of penetration, softening point and viscosity of the binder. The Marshall Method was then applied to investigate the impact of using a different recycling agent content on the performance of the prepared mixtures. Also, the Universal Testing Machine apparatus was used to determine the resilient modulus and dynamic creep of reclaimed asphalt. The results show that after adding 10% of Heavy Vacuum Slops (HVS) from the Tehran refinery as the rejuvenating agent to reclaim the aged asphalt, there is an improvement in the applicability of reclaimed asphalt cement. In addition, the test results suggest that adding 10% of the rejuvenator leads to RAP mixtures which meet the criteria of a virgin HMA.