Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com
Construction
and Building

Construction and Building Materials 22 (2008) 2111–2115

MATERIALS
www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Investigation of rheological and fatigue properties of asphalt

mixtures containing polyester fibers
Shaopeng Wu, Qunshan Ye *, Ning Li
Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Received 1 June 2007; received in revised form 18 July 2007; accepted 21 July 2007
Available online 4 September 2007

Abstract

The effects of polyester fiber on the rheological characteristics and fatigue properties of asphalt and its mixture are investigated in this
paper. The viscosity, rheological and fatigue tests are conducted to characterize such related properties of asphalt binder and mixture
with different fiber contents. Test results indicate that the viscosity of asphalt binder is increased with increasing polyester fiber contents,
especially at lower temperature. With different polyester fiber contents, the complex modulus and loss modulus of asphalt binders are
decreased at 15 °C and 0.1–100 rad/s frequency range. The dynamic modulus test results for asphalt mixture with 0.3% polyester fiber
content also reveal that the dynamic modulus and phase angle are decreased at the same temperature, which leads to a decrease of fatigue
parameter for asphalt mixture. When compared with the control asphalt mixture, the cycle numbers to fatigue failure of fiber modified
asphalt mixture are increased with 1.9, 2.9 and 3.6 times at 0.5, 0.4 and 0.3 stress ratios, respectively. The parameters of fatigue functions
for asphalt mixture with or without polyester fiber are obtained and compared, and it confirms that the fatigue property of asphalt mix-
ture can be improved by fiber addition, especially at lower stress levels.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Asphalt mixture; Binder; Rheological characteristics; Fatigue property; Stress level

1. Introduction it should be highly resistant to ultraviolet light, thermal

Bituminous binders have been widely used in flexible
pavements because of their good adhesion to mineral
aggregates and viscoelastic properties [1–3]. Unfortunately,
asphalt mixture or coating layer shows severe temperature
susceptibility such as high-temperature rutting, medium
temperature fatigue and low temperature cracking damage.
Therefore, asphalt mixture should be modified in some way
to promote their further application.
Ideally, a modifying agent of bitumen should be easily
incorporated to yield a highly viscous mixture at in-service
temperatures which remains homogenous on storage, and
should have a viscosity which permits its use in standard
material manufacturing and paving equipments. Moreover,
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 27 8716 2595.
E-mail address: yeqs@whut.edu.cn (Q. Ye).
actions, water damage, environmental friends, and be
available [4–7].
Among various modifiers for asphalt, fibers have gotten
much attention for their excellent improvement effects.
Various fiber modifiers, such as cellulous fiber, polyester
fiber and mineral fiber, have been widely used in different
asphalt mixtures. These include Stone Mastic Asphalt
(SMA), Open Grade Friction Concrete (OGFC), etc. [8–
11]. Many earlier research projects focus on the influence
of fiber additives on the engineering properties of asphalt
or asphalt mixture. Chen and Lin [12] investigated cellu-
lose, rock wool and polyester fiber on the engineering prop-
erties of asphalt, and the test results indicated that good
adhesion between fibers and bitumen enhances the load-
carrying ability of asphalt-fiber mastics. Wu et al. [13] con-
ducted dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) test to study the
rheological properties of asphalt with various fibers. Their
results indicated that the rutting-resistance property of

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2007.07.018
2112 S. Wu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 22 (2008) 2111–2115
asphalt with fibers could be improved to a large extent.
Putman and Amirkhanian [14] compared the performance
of SMA mixtures containing waste tire and carpet fibers
with mixes made with commonly used cellulose and polyes-
ter fibers. The results revealed that the tire, carpet and
polyester fibers significantly improved the toughness of
the mixtures, but no significant difference in permanent
deformation or moisture susceptibility was found.
Polyester fiber modified asphalt binder and mixture have
been successfully applied in construction practice. How-
ever, the effect of polyester fiber on the pavement engineer-
ing performances is profound, and the mechanism of the
fiber effect on the bitumen is complex. The main objective
of this research is to investigate the related properties of
polyester fiber modified asphalt binder and mixture; such
as viscosity, rheological characteristics, dynamic property,
and fatigue performance.
2. Materials and experimental designs
2.1. Raw materials and mix gradation
A base asphalt (AH-70), provided by KOCH Asphalt
Co. Ltd. (Hubei Province, PR China) was used for polyes-
ter fiber modification, with a penetration of 69 (0.1 mm at
25 °C, 100 g and 5 s), ductility of more than 100 cm (at
15 °C) and softening point of 48 °C according to ASTM
D 3381.
The polyester fiber adopted in this research is a commer-
cial product (Tianhui Fiber Materials Co., Ltd., Wuhan,
PR China), which is made of polypropylene and with an
average length and diameter of 6 mm and 20 lm, respec-
tively. The specific gravity of polyester fibers is 1.35 g/
cm3, and the tension strength is 520 MPa. The melting
point of polyester fiber is 248 °C, thus remaining intact
during high mixing temperatures for preparation of asphalt
Fig. 1. SEM morphological image of polyester fiber.
binder or mixes. The microscopic morphology of polyester
fiber is shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that the cross-section
of these fibers is quite round and their surface is smooth.
Asphalt mixtures were obtained with a 12.5 mm Super-
Pave gradation. Basalt coarse aggregate and fine aggregate
were used in the specimens preparation, properties of
basalt aggregate are shown in Table 1. Limestone was used
as mineral filler. Table 2 presents the selected mix
gradation.
2.2. Specimens preparation and test procedure
The polyester fiber modified asphalt binder was
obtained by a constant mixer at 165 °C. Fiber contents of
0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 percent by weight of the asphalt. To obtain
homogenous bitumen-fiber mastics, the polyester fibers
were added slowly into the preheated pure asphalt and
mixed for 2 h. Next, the viscosity test and dynamic shear
test were carried out to investigate the viscosity and rheo-
logical properties of the fiber modified asphalt binder and
the control sample. The binders were aged in the RTFO
and frequency sweep dynamic shear tests were conducted
at 15 °C.
Standard SuperPave mix procedures were employed to
prepare the dynamic modulus test specimen with 170 mm
height and 150 mm diameter after the mixtures have been
short-term oven aged for 4 h at 135 °C, Then such speci-
mens were sawed and polished to the required specimen
gauge for dynamic modulus test and fatigue test. The diam-
eter and height of specimens for dynamic modulus test
were 100 mm and 150 mm, and for indirect tension fatigue
test were 150 mm and 38 mm. The optimum binder content
for mixtures without fiber was found to be 4.8%, while for
mixtures with 0.3 percent polyester fiber (by weight of the
asphalt mixture) the optimum binder content was 5.0%.
The desired air voids for all specimens was approximately
3.0%. When compared with conventional asphalt mixes,
the differences for preparation of polyester fiber asphalt
mixes are the mixing procedure and the mixing time. In
laboratory study, the polyester fibers must be mixed with
dry aggregates for about 30 s prior to the mixing with
asphalt and mineral filler. In field application, the polyester
fiber can be blasted into the mixer plant, and the dry mix-
ing time for fibers and aggregates is about 8 s. The laying
and compaction for polyester fiber asphalt mixes are the
same with the conventional asphalt mixes.
Table 1
Properties of basalt aggregate
Test items Measured values Standard
Specific gravity (g/cm3) 2.96 ASTM C-127
Water absorption (%) 0.65 ASTM C-127
Frost action (%) (with Na2SO4) 7.05 ASTM C-88
Abrasion loss (%) (Los Angles) 15.6 ASTM DC-131
Polishing value 0.62 BS-813
 S. Wu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 22 (2008) 2111–2115 2113

Table 2
Selected mix gradation
Sieves [mm] 19 13.2 9.5 4.75 2.36 1.18 0.6 0.3 0.15 0.075
Passing [%] 100 93.0 79.6 50.6 33.2 23.1 16.8 12.0 8.7 5.3

The viscosity tests of asphalt mastic with and without 1.E+07

polyester fiber were conducted by a Brookfield viscometer 0.10%
1.E+06 0.30%
(model DV-II+Pro) according to ASTM D 2170. The vis- 0.50%
cosity test temperatures covered a range of 60–180 °C. 1.E+05 Origin

Viscosity / Pa·s
A strain-controlled rheometer (Anton Paar, Austrilia)
with parallel plate geometry (8 mm in diameter) was used 1.E+04

to determine the rheological characteristics of asphalt mas- 1.E+03

tics. A frequency sweep was applied over the range 0.1–
100 rad/s at a fixed temperature of 15 °C. An approximately
1.0 g sample was put onto the lower plate. After the sample
was heated to flow, the upper parallel plate was lowered to
contact tightly with the sample and the sample trimmed.
The final gap was adjusted to 1.0 mm. All the samples were
held at the defined temperature for 10 min and then con-
ducted the frequency sweep from higher levels to the lower
ones. Various viscoelastic parameters, such as, G 0 , G00 , and d
were collected automatically by the software.
Dynamic modulus test and indirect tension fatigue test
in the simple performance test (SPT) of SuperPave were
performed using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM-
25) with an environmental chamber [15]. The dynamic
modulus test was conducted at 15 °C and nine frequencies
(0.1 Hz, 0.2 Hz, 0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, 2 Hz, 5 Hz, 10 Hz, 20 Hz,
25 Hz). The loading pattern used in the indirect tensile fati-
gue test was a haversine load with a loading time of 0.1 s
and rest period of 0.4 s. The fatigue test was also conducted
at the same temperature at 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 stress levels accord-
ing to the splitting strength of asphalt mixtures. All sam-
ples were conditioned at the test temperature so that the
test temperature was uniform throughout the mass of the
specimen.
3. Results and discussion
1.E+02
1.E+01
1.E+00
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Temperature / °C
Fig. 2. Viscosity of asphalt mixing with polyester fibers versus
temperatures.
3.2. Rheological characteristics of asphalt binder
At any combination of time and temperature within the
linear range, the visco-elastic behavior is usually character-
ized by the shear modulus, G*, which is calculated as the
ratio of the maximum shear stress to the maximum shear
strain. The complex shear modulus (jG*j) and phase angle
(d) at 15°C for different concentrations of polyester fibers
mixed with asphalt are shown in Fig. 3 For clarity, curves
of complex modulus are plotted as solid line. It can be seen
that the values of complex modulus of asphalt mastic are
decreased with the increase of fiber contents and frequen-
cies, but the change of phase angles with or without fibers
are limited, which indicates that the addition of polyester
fiber increases the flexibility of asphalt mastic, results in

3.1. Viscosity 4.E+07 60

Origin PF-0.1%
As shown in Fig. 2, the viscosity of asphalt binders 3.E+07 PF-0.3% PF-0.5%
Origin PF-0.1% 55
increases with increasing polyester fiber contents. There PF-0.3% PF-0.5%
3.E+07
was a limited increase in viscosity at a content of 0.1%
δ / Degree

because the polyester fibers act only as a dispersing mate- 2.E+07

50
G*/Pa

rial. If the fiber content was increased, the viscosity

increased by two to three times because the polyester fibers 2.E+07
45
began to form a localized network structure. When the
1.E+07
fiber content was up to 0.5%, the local networks gradually
40
began to interact to initiate a continuous network through- 5.E+06
out asphalt, this leads to a 10-fold increase or more in vis-
cosity. The network acts as a support structure, reinforcing 0.E+00 35
the asphalt and resisting deformation. As seen in Fig. 2, 1.00E-01 1.00E+00 1.00E+01 1.00E+02
these reinforcement effects are more significant at lower Angular Frequency / rad/s
temperatures (60–135 °C) than at higher temperatures Fig. 3. Complex modulus and phase angle versus angular frequency for
(135–180 °C). original and polyester fiber modified asphalt.
2114 S. Wu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 22 (2008) 2111–2115

the improvement of cracking and fatigue resistance for tion of fatigue parameter implies an improvement of resis-
asphalt mixtures. tance to fatigue damage for asphalt mixtures.
Fatigue is one of the most severe damage for asphalt
pavement. Typically, the initiation and propagation of 3.4. Fatigue properties
cracks are always related to the magnitude of lost energy
produced by outer loading [16]. The loss modulus Fatigue test results of asphalt mixtures at different stress
(jG*jsind) mentioned by the Strategic Highway Research levels are shown in Fig. 7 and Table 3. Compared with the
Program (SHRP) is an effective parameter to characterize
the resistance to fatigue cracking of asphalt mixtures.
Fig. 4 depicts the loss modulus of various asphalt binders. 21000 25
It also can be found that the loss modulus decreases with 19000
the increase of polyester fiber contents, especially at higher 20

Dynamic Modulus / MPa

17000

Phase angle / Degree

frequency range (1–100 rad/s). Such results indicate that
the resistance to fatigue damage of asphalt mixtures is 15000 15
improved when the fiber modifiers are used. It may be that 13000
the polyester fiber dispersing in the asphalt can transfer and
11000 10
disperse the stress caused by loading, which can hold the
initiation of fatigue cracks and their propagations. 9000 E*-Control E*-PF0.3%
δ-Control δ-PF0.3% 5
7000
3.3. Dynamic properties of asphalt mixture
5000 0
0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 25
Fig. 5 shows the changes of dynamic modulus (jE*j) and Frequency / Hz
phase angle (d) at 15 °C for asphalt mixture with fibers and
the control mixture, these cover the frequency range from Fig. 5. Dynamic modulus and phase angles of asphalt mixtures with and
without polyester fiber.
0.1 Hz to 25 Hz. This illustrates that the dynamic modulus
and phase angle decrease with the increase of frequency at
this temperature. The test results indicate that the visco- 4500.0
elastic properties of asphalt mixtures could be changed Control
by the fiber modifiers. Such fiber modifiers can enhance 4000.0 PF0.3%
Fatigue parameter / MPa

the viscous property of asphalt mixtures at medium tem- 3500.0

peratures, which result in the reduction of fatigue damage
for asphalt mixtures during their service life. Just like the 3000.0 Fatigue Parameter / MPa
4000.0
loss modulus of asphalt mastic, we can define the double 2500.0
of dynamic modulus and sine phase angle jE*jsind as the 3500.0
fatigue parameter for asphalt mixture. The fatigue param- 2000.0
eters for control mixture and polyester fiber modified 1500.0
3000.0
Control PF-0.3%
asphalt mixture are shown in Fig. 6. The reduction of fati-
gue parameters is also observed when polyester fibers are 1000.0
0.1 1 10 100
used. The value of E*sind for control mixtures at 10 Hz is Reduced Frequncy / Hz
3956.8 MPa, and for fiber modified asphalt mixture is
3455.7 MPa, which has a decrease about 13%. This reduc- Fig. 6. Fatigue parameters of asphalt mixtures.

2.E+07
1.E+05
2.E+07
Cycle numbers to failure / Times

Control PF-0.3%
2.E+07 Origin
PF-0.1%
Loss Modulous / Pa

1.E+07
PF-0.3% 1.E+04
1.E+07 PF-0.5%
1.E+07
8.E+06
1.E+03
6.E+06
4.E+06
2.E+06
0.E+ 00 1.E+02
0.1 1 10 100 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20
Angular Frequency / rad/s Stress / MPa

Fig. 4. Loss modulus of polyester fiber modified asphalt. Fig. 7. Cycle numbers to failure versus stress lever for asphalt mixtures.
 S. Wu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 22 (2008) 2111–2115
Table 3
Parameters for fatigue equation of asphalt mixtures
Items Nf Parameters
0.5P 0.4P 0.3P K n
Control 1011 1491 6711 1100.6
PF-0.3% 1911 4271 24141 1171.2
control mixture, the cycle numbers to failure of polyester
fiber modified asphalt mixture are 1.9 times, 2.9 times
and 3.6 times at 0.5 P, 0.4 P and 0.3 P(P is the indirect ten-
sion strength of each kind of asphalt mixture), respectively,
which reveal that the fatigue property of asphalt mixtures
can be improved by polyester fiber modifiers. It is obvious
that the fatigue property of asphalt mixture is enhanced
dramatically at lower stress levels, but this improvement
is poor at higher stress levels. The fatigue property of
asphalt mixture can be depicted by the fatigue equation,
as given in the following equation
n
N f ¼ KðrÞ
where Nf is the cycle numbers to failure; r is the test stress;
K, n are constants. After simulating, the constants for as-
phalt mixtures with and without fibers can be obtained,
which can also be seen in Table 3. It can be observed that
the values of K and n are all increased when polyester fibers
are added, which results in an increase in the cycle numbers
to failure for asphalt mixtures, especially at lower stress
levels.
4. Conclusions
1. The viscosity of asphalt mastic increase with the increase
of polyester fiber contents. The contribution effect of
polyester fiber to increase of viscosity are more signifi-
cant at lower temperatures (60–135 °C) than at higher
temperatures (135–180 °C).
2. Complex shear modulus of asphalt binder is decreased
with the increase of fiber contents and frequencies, but
the change of phase angles with or without fibers is lim-
ited. The loss modulus of asphalt binder is decreased
with the increase of polyester fiber content, which indi-
cates that the resistance to fatigue crack of asphalt bin-
der can be improved.
3. Dynamic modulus and phase angle of asphalt mixture
with 0.3% polyester fiber are all decreased. The fatigue
parameter of asphalt mixture with polyester fiber is
decreased about 13% at 10 Hz.
2115
4. Cycle numbers to failure of asphalt mixture modified by
polyester fiber can be increased at all stress levels tested,
and this improvement to fatigue resistance is more sig-
nificant at lower stress levels.
3.745
5.044 Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to the Department of Transporta-
tion in Hubei Province, China and Headquarters of Han-
Yi Expressway in Hubei Province for its financial support
of this work.
References
[1] Akmal N, Usmani AM. Application of asphalt-containing materials.
Polymer News 1999;24:136–40.
[2] Der-Hsien S, Ming-Feng K, Jia-Chong D. Properties of gap-
aggregate gradation asphalt mixture and permanent deformation.
Constr Build Mater 2005;19(2):147–53.
[3] Murali KJ, Rajagopal KR. Review of the uses and modeling of
bitumen from ancient to modern times. Appl Mech Rev
2003;56(2):672–5.
[4] Airey GD. Rheological properties of styrene butadience styrene
polymer modified road bitumens. Fuel 2003;82(14):1709–19.
[5] Morrison GR, Lee JK, et al. Chlorinated polyolefins for asphalt
binder modification. J Appl Polym Sci 1994;54(2):231–40.
[6] Peltonen P. Wear and deformation characteristics of fiber reinforced
asphalt pavements. Constr Build Mater 1991;5(1):18–22.
[7] Lu X, Isacsson U. Modification of road bitumens with thermoplastic
polymers. Polym Test 2001;20(1):77–86.
[8] Harris BM, Stuart KD. Analysis of mineral fillers and mastics used in
stone matrix asphalt. J Assoc Asphalt Paving Technol
1995;64(1):211–34.
[9] Serfass J P, Samanous J. Fiber-modified asphalt concrete character-
istics, application and behavior. J Assoc Asphalt Paving Technol
1996;65:193–230.
[10] Baoshan H, Xiang S, Xingwei C. Effects of mineral fillers on hot-mix
asphalt laboratory-measured properties. Int J Pavement Eng
2007;8(1):1–9.
[11] Süreyya T, Halit O, Atakan A. Investigation of rutting performance
of asphalt mixtures containing polymer modifiers. Constr Build
Mater 2007;21(2):328–37.
[12] Chen Jianshiuh, Lin Kueiyi. Mechanism and behavior of bitumen
strength reinforcement using fibers. J Mater Sci 2005;40:87–95.
[13] Wu Shaopeng et al. Effects of fiber additive on the high temperature
property of asphalt binder. J Wuhan Univ Technol-Mater Sci Ed
2006;21(1):28–31.
[14] Putman BJ, Amirkhanian SN. Utilization of waste fibers in stone
matrix asphalt mixtures. Resour, Conserv Recy 2004;42:265–74.
[15] Witczak MW, Kaloush K, Pellinen T, et al. Simple performance test
for SuperPave mix design. National cooperative highway research
program (NCHRP) Report 465, Washington, D.C. National Re-
search Council; 2002.
[16] Tayebali AA, Rowe GM, Sousa JB. Fatigue response of asphalt-
aggregate mixtures. J Asphalt Paving Technol 1992;61:333–60.