Road Materials and Pavement Design, 2015

Vol. 16, No. 2, 379–391, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680629.2014.1002524

Thermal performances of asphalt mixtures using recycled tyre rubber as

mineral filler
Meizhu Chena , Jun Zhenga , Fuzhou Lia∗ , Shaopeng Wua , Juntao Linb and Lu Wana
a State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan
430070, People’s Republic of China; b State Key Laboratory of high Performance Civil Engineering
Materials, Jiangsu Research Institute of Building Science, Nanjing 210008, People’s Republic of China

(Received 14 October 2014; accepted 21 December 2014 )

As the global temperature rises in the summer, researchers are paying more attention to cool
pavements. Rubberised asphalt, made by mixing shredded crumb rubber into asphalt and used
on road and highway pavements, is being regarded as one of the potential cool pavements. This
research aims to investigate the thermal performances of asphalt binders and mixtures contain-
ing recycled tyre rubber (RTR) powder. The experimental design for this research included
asphalt binders and mixtures with different contents of RTR powder. The thermal conductivity
coefficients and heat capacities of asphalt binders and mixtures were measured besides verti-
cal temperature distributions of mixtures; meanwhile, water sensitivity and high-temperature
properties of mixtures were also investigated in this study. The experimental results show
that the addition of RTR powder is helpful in reducing the thermal conductivity coefficient of
asphalt binders and mixtures, while it has an opposite effect on volumetric heat capacity for
asphalt binders and mixtures. With an increasing content of RTR powder, the heat capacity
of the binder is decreased but that of the mixture is increased. And the surface temperature
of an asphalt mixture containing RTR powder as mineral filler is higher than that of a control
sample in solar heating simulation tests, while the inner temperature is reverse. The use of
RTR as mineral filler in an asphalt mixture is helpful in improving the thermal stability of the
asphalt mixture, but it slightly reduced the moisture resistance in this study.
Keywords: asphalt mixture; recycled tyre rubber; filler; thermal performances

1. Introduction
Many cities and suburbs have air temperatures that are 1–6°C higher than the surrounding natural
land cover, a phenomenon referred to as the urban heat island effect, which has been docu-
mented in some articles (Memon, Leung, Liu, & Leung, 2011; Rizwan, Dennis, & Liu, 2008).
Researchers have found some ways to reduce the urban heat island effect such as using cool roofs
and pavements (Santamouris, Synnefa, & Karlessi, 2011). Cool roofs are easily understood and
broadly being applied in the market; however, the idea of cool pavements has not yet gained wide
dissemination and acceptance in practice. With the development of the society and urbanisation,
pavements including roads and parking spaces have covered an important percentage of a city’s
surface and thus result in an increase in the urban heat island effect (Asaeda, Ca, & Wake, 1996;

*Corresponding author. Email: lifuzhou630616@163.com

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

380 M. Chen et al.

Mallick, Chen, & Bhowmick, 2009). Therefore, more researches are expected in developing cool
pavements in the near future.
Cool pavements refer to a range of establishing and emerging materials that tend to store less
heat and may have lower surface temperature compared to conventional pavements (Cambridge
Systematics, Inc., 2005). As reported in the literature (Bruce et al., 2010; Brochure on the Use of
Cool Pavements to Reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect, 2006), cool pavements can be achieved
with the placement of a layer of rubberised asphalt (made by mixing shredded rubber into asphalt)
over the concrete road surface, and rubberised pavements have been recognised to be cooler both
in the day and at night than standard asphalt. However, detailed data are not available. Recently,
rubberised asphalt has been recognised for its many advantaged performance properties and is
being introduced into the potential cool pavement types (Bruce et al., 2010). More and more
researches in rubberised asphalt concrete applied in the development of cool pavements are being
expected, although many studies on the mechanical performance of rubberised asphalt concrete
have been completed in the last several decades.
In recent years, more than 10 million tonnes of waste rubber tyres were produced in China,
and the amount of waste rubber tyre is increasing at a growth rate of 5% every year, which causes
numerous environment problems and resource waste. Usually, a large amount of waste rubber
tyres are crushed to crumb rubber for recycling. In the past decades, recycled crumb rubber is
widely used in asphalt mixture all over the world, which can not only protect the environment, but
also improve the properties of asphalt mixture (Hsu, Chen, & Hung, 2011; Xiao, Amirkhanian,
& Shen, 2009; Xiao, Amirkhanian, Shen, & Putman, 2009). Normally, the processes of applying
crumb rubber in asphalt mixtures can be divided into two categories: a dry process and a wet
process (Lo Presti & Airey, 2013; Rahman, Airey, & Collop, 2010). In the dry process, crumb
rubber is directly added to the aggregates to replace the part of fine aggregates or filler. In the
wet process, crumb rubber is used as the modifier of asphalt binder at specific conditions. The
wet process is more popular in China and aboard, even though some disadvantages can be found.
However, the dry process can consume larger quantities of recycled crumb rubber than the wet
process, so the dry process is also studied by researchers and applied in field project. Cao (2007)
found that the addition of tyre rubber in asphalt mixtures using the dry process could improve
the properties of resistance to permanent deformation at high temperature and thermal cracking
at low temperature.
Presently, there are few researches on the thermal conductivity properties and temperature dis-
tributions of asphalt pavements containing recycled tyre rubber (RTR) in terms of dry process.
Moreover, rubber is usually applied as a thermal insulation material in buildings for its low ther-
mal conductivity (Zhu, Thong-On, & Zhang, 2002). And thus the addition of RTR in asphalt
mixture may influence the thermal conductivity of an asphalt mixture and its corresponding
temperature distribution, which consequently affects the rutting resistance of an asphalt pave-
ment. Therefore, the research on thermal conductivity of an asphalt mixture with crumb rubber
may help understand the temperature changes of rubberised asphalt pavements and improve the
utilisation rate of RTR.
The objective of this paper is to investigate and evaluate the thermal performances of asphalt
binders and mixtures containing RTR powder as filler. The thermal conductivity of an asphalt
mixture containing RTR powder was tested using a Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyser as
compared to the conventional asphalt mixture without crumb rubber. In addition, the vertical tem-
perature distribution of mixtures was measured through a solar heating simulation test. Moreover,
the effect of RTR powder on the physical properties of asphalt binders and moisture sensitivity
of mixtures was also investigated. The main properties include penetration, soft point and duc-
tility of the asphalt binder along with moisture sensitivity and high-temperature properties of the
asphalt mixtures.
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 381

2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Rubber powder used in this research was generated from the RTR section without steel fibre by
using the cracker mill process. It consists of particle size ranging from 0.075 to 0.15 mm, and
fine limestone powder was used as mineral filler in this study. Appearances of different fillers are
shown in Figure 1(a) and (b), respectively. In addition, the basic physical properties of RTR and
limestone powder are presented in Table 1.
Grade 70 (AH70) asphalt binder was used to prepare all test specimens in this study. This
asphalt binder was produced by PANJIN Asphalt Co. Ltd., China. The physical properties of
the asphalt are listed in Table 2. The basalt aggregates used in this study were obtained from
Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China. The basic physical properties of coarse aggregates (more than
2.36 mm) and fine aggregates (less than 2.36 mm) are shown in Tables 3 and 4. In this study, four
sizes (9.5–19 mm, 4.75–9.5 mm, 2.36–4.75 mm and 0–2.36 mm) of crushed basalt aggregates
were used.

(a) (b)

Figure 1. Photo of different fillers. (a) Recycled tire rubber powder; (b) Limestone powder.

Table 1. Basic properties of RTR and limestone powder.

Test items RTR Limestone powder

Passing (%) 0.3 mm 98.1 100

0.15 mm 53.8 99.5
0.075 mm 14.7 95
Specific gravity (g/cm3 ) 0.910 2.689
Moisture content (%) 0.1 0.1

Table 2. Basic properties of asphalt binder in this test.

Test items Measured values

Penetration (25°C, 0.1 mm) 68
Softening point (°C) 45
Ductility (15°C, cm) 58.0
Specific gravity (g/cm3 ) 1.02
382 M. Chen et al.

Table 3. Basic physical properties of basalt aggregates in this test.

Properties Measured values Standard

Apparent relative density 2.867 ASTM C-127

Water absorption ratio (%) 0.82 ASTM C-127
Abrasion loss (%) 15.9 ASTM DC-131
Frost action (%) 0.64 ASTM C-88

Table 4. Physical properties of fine aggregates in this test.

Properties Measured values Standard

Apparent density (g/cm3 ) 2.861 –

Sand equivalent (%) 68.8 > 60
Angularity (%) 46.53 > 45

2.2. Preparation of asphalt mortar and mixture samples

The experimental design for this study is shown in Figure 2. Different asphalt mortars and mix-
tures were prepared using various contents of RTR, which was used as mineral filler to partially
or totally replace the limestone powder. Since the density of the rubber powder is relatively lower
compared to that of limestone powder, the replacement between RTR and limestone powder is
used by volume. For instance, 0% and 50% replacements of RTR (by total volume) mean that
0% and 50% of corresponding limestone powder is replaced by rubber powder. For asphalt mor-
tar preparation, different contents of RTR were blended with hot asphalt binder in one container,
and mixed for 30 minutes at a temperature of 120°C, which is the temperature at which rubber
powder mixes evenly in an asphalt binder. It was observed that rubber powder was uniformly
scattered within the binders, and then the produced samples were prepared for tests of different
properties including penetration, soften point, ductility and thermal conductivity.
The Marshall mix design procedure as specified in ASTM D1559 was used to produce the
asphalt mixture in this study. Aggregate grading curves for asphalt mixtures, which are shown
in Figure 3, satisfied the requirements of China Highway Construction Specifications. The same
aggregation gradation was used for all mixtures with or without rubber powder in this study. Lab-
oratory mixing and compaction temperature for all mixtures were selected according to viscosity
criteria. Rubber powder was directly added into mixes and the blending time of the mixture was
prolonged for 10–20s to disperse the rubber evenly. The optimum asphalt binder contents of
the asphalt mixture with crumb rubber powder and limestone powder were determined to 5.0%
and 5.1% (by weight of aggregate) based on the Marshall mix design, respectively, and the used
mineral filler content of the asphalt mixtures was 4.0% (by weight of aggregate) in this study.

2.3. Test methods

2.3.1. Thermal performance tests
Firstly, thermal parameters including thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volumetric
thermal capacity of asphalt mortars and mixtures were determined by using a Hot Disk Thermal
Constants Analyser, which is based on the Transient Plane Source technique and can be used to
study materials with thermal conductivities from 0.005 to 500 W/(mk), covering a temperature
range from 30 to 1000 K. In this experimental study, three repeated samples were tested for each
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 383

Waste tire powder Asphalt binder A Mineral filler

(0.075-0.15mm) (90#) (0.075-0.15mm)

Heating

0% 50% 60% 72% 100%

Asphalt mortar with different content of waste tire powder

Soft point Penetration Ductility Thermal conductivity Heat capacity

coefficient

Aggregate grading

Asphalt mixtures with different content of waste tire powder

Water sensitivity Thermal performance

Vertical temperature
Tensile strength Soaking stability Static creep strain
distribution when heated
Figure 2. Flow chart of the experimental design. Note: 0%, 50%, 60%, 72% and 100% refer to the content
of limestone powder replaced by the waste tyre powder by total volume. That is to say, 0% replacement of
waste tyre powder means that 0% of corresponding limestone powder is replaced by rubber powder.

100
Selected
speccation limited
80
Passing (100%)

60

40

20

0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Seize size (mm)

Figure 3. Grading curves of aggregates.

384 M. Chen et al.

(a)

Regulated
Halogen lamp power supply

Temperature
Temperature gathering meter Computer
Samples
sensors

(b)

Figure 4. Solar heating simulation test device. Note: h = 40 cm, the size of the samples is
30 cm × 30 cm × 5 cm; the temperature sensors inside the samples are in the middle of the samples.

index including thermal properties, high-temperature performance and mositrue sensitivity, and
then the average value was calculated.
Secondly, the vertical temperature distribution of the heated asphalt mixture was obtained
by using a solar heating simulation test device (as seen in Figure 4). As shown in Figure 4,
the light of a lamp was used to simulate solar heating, and the asphalt mixture specimen was
placed 40 cm below the lamp to absorb the light heating. The raised surface and inner temper-
atures of the asphalt mixture were measured using the temperature sensors. Conversely, when
the light was turned off, the reduced temperature of the asphalt mixture was also measured with
the time.
Thirdly, the static creep test was carried out using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) to
apply constant axial stress to the asphalt specimens (as seen in Figure 5). The specimens of
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 385

Figure 5. Static creep test used in this study.

100 mm in diameter and height were prepared and then tested at 60°C. A stress of 100 kPa was
applied on the specimens for 3600s; then the load was removed and the deformation recovery
was monitored for 5400s. The axial deformation (h) was measured by the sensor of the UTM
and was automatically recorded by the computer. The accumulated micro-strains of the mixtures
were calculated as the ratio of the measured deformation to the initial specimen height according
to the following equation:

h
ε= , (1)
H0

where ε is the accumulated micro-strain that occurred in the specimen during a certain loading
time at a certain temperature, 10−6 mm/mm; h is the axial deformation, mm; and H 0 is the initial
height of the specimen, mm.

2.3.2. Moisture sensitivity test

Moisture sensitivity of all asphalt samples was evaluated by measuring the loss of the indirect
tensile strength (ITS) in accordance with the AASHTO T-283 test procedure. The samples with
air voids of 7% were prepared by applying 50 blows on each sample side using the Marshall
compactor. The samples were subjected to one cycle of freezing and thawing at a tempera-
ture between − 18°C and 60°C. The ITS of the conditioned and unconditioned specimens was
obtained at 25°C at the loading rate of 50 mm/min. The moisture sensitivity of the mixture can
be evaluated using the tensile strength ratio (TSR) value as follows:

TS1
TSR = , (2)
TS2

where TS1 is the average tensile strength of the conditioned specimen, kPa, and TS2 is the
average tensile strength of the unconditioned specimen, kPa.
386 M. Chen et al.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Physical properties of asphalt mortar
A softening point may reflect the temperature sensitivity of an asphalt binder along with its
viscosity. In general, it can be considered that an asphalt binder having a higher softening point
results in a higher thermal stability. As shown in Table 5, the softening point of an asphalt binder
gradually increases with an increase in the rubber powder content. The rubber powder absorbs
the light oil of the asphalt binder, resulting in the swelling of the rubber powder, and consequently
reduces the content of free wax in the asphalt binder (Guillanmot, Goujard, Simard, & Boulangé,
2013; Huang, Li, Zhang, Dong, & Zhang, 2009; Li, Chen, & Que, 2010; Magdy, 1997; Peralta
et al., 2010). As is well known, the light oil has a great impact on the temperature susceptibility
of an asphalt binder. The lower content of free wax means lower temperature susceptibility of
the asphalt binder, and consequently, the softening point of the asphalt binder increases with an
increase in the rubber powder content.
Penetration is usually used to reflect the viscosity of an asphalt binder. The greater the penetra-
tion of an asphalt binder, the smaller its viscosity is. As shown in Table 5, the penetration value
of an asphalt binder decreases with an increase in the rubber powder dosage. This is because
the addition of rubber powder can absorb some components of the asphalt binder such as light
oil, and consequently, the consistency of the asphalt binder can be increased (Guillanmot et al.,
2013; Huang et al., 2009; Li et al., 2010; Magdy, 1997; Peralta et al., 2010). In addition, the
mechanical properties are different for rubber and limestone powder, while the softening point
and penetration are measured on a mixture of two or three mixtures (asphalt binder and rubber
or limestone, or rubber and limestone together). As a result, the asphalt mortar shows a higher
softening point and a lower penetration with an increase in rubber powder dosage.
Ductility can reflect the flexibility of an asphalt binder, and a greater ductility may lead to a
better flexibility. As listed in Table 5, the ductility of an asphalt binder is reduced with an increase
in rubber powder dosage, which might be due to the stress concentration caused by the unevenly
swollen rubber particles. The rubber powder swells fully in an asphalt binder when the mixing
temperature is higher and consequently, the microstructure of the mortar will be improved, which
results in higher ductility of the asphalt mortar. The diffusion rate of the components of asphalt
into waste rubber powder increases along with an increase in the temperature (Huang et al.,
2009). However, in this study the mixing temperature of asphalt and rubber is relatively lower
(only 120°C, much lower than 177°C, which was used for the preparation of rubber-modified
asphalt binder in the wet process), and most particles of the rubber powder existed in the asphalt
binder even when it did not swell completely, which may lead to lower ductility of the asphalt
mortar.

3.2. Thermal properties

In this research, three parameters (thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volumetric heat
capacity (VHC)) are used to investigate the effect of RTR on the thermal properties of the asphalt

Table 5. Effects of recycled tyre rubber on the physical properties of asphalt binders.

Content of RTR (%) Softening point (°C) Penetration (25°C, 0.1 mm) Ductility (15°C, cm)

0 47 72 53
50 51 63 42
60 52 60 40
72 54 57 39
100 56 55 35
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 387

Table 6. Effects of recycled tyre rubber on the thermal properties of asphalt binders.
Content of Thermal Thermal
waste tyre conductivity diffusivity VHC
powder (%) (W/m.K) (mm2 /S) (mJ/m3 K)

0 0.362 ± 0.0003 0.217 ± 0.0003 1.670 ± 0.0007

50 0.275 ± 0.0005 0.173 ± 0.0006 1.591 ± 0.0003
100 0.198 ± 0.0001 0.134 ± 0.0004 1.473 ± 0.0005

Table 7. Thermal properties of asphalt mixtures with different contents of RTR.

Content of Thermal Thermal
waste tyre conductivity diffusivity VHC
powder (%) (W/m K) (mm2 /S) (mJ/m3 K)

0 1.487 ± 0.0008 0.629 ± 0.0003 2.402 ± 0.0004

50 1.441 ± 0.0005 0.654 ± 0.0005 2.201 ± 0.0006
60 1.337 ± 0.0007 0.585 ± 0.0002 2.284 ± 0.0001
72 1.367 ± 0.0004 0.608 ± 0.0006 2.293 ± 0.0003
100 1.325 ± 0.0007 0.540 ± 0.0008 2.452 ± 0.0002

binder and mixture. Usually, materials with a higher thermal conductivity have excellent thermal
properties, namely transferring more heat at the same temperature gradient. Thermal diffusivity
is the thermal conductivity divided by density and specific heat capacity at a constant pressure.
In a sense, thermal diffusivity is the measure of the rate at which a temperature disturbance at
one point in a body travels to another point. In a substance with high thermal diffusivity, heat
moves rapidly through the substance, and it generally does not require much energy from its
surroundings to reach thermal equilibrium. VHC, also termed volume-specific heat capacity,
describes the ability of a given volume of a substance to store internal energy while undergoing
a given temperature change.
Table 6 shows the results of the thermal parameters for different asphalt binders with different
contents of RTR. As seen in Table 6, these three parameters are also decreased with an increase
in rubber powder content, which indicates that the addition of rubber powder can reduce the
thermal conductivity of an asphalt binder, and hence improve the heat insulation performance of
the asphalt binder. This is due to the excellent heat insulation performance of rubber itself. So, it
might be a good choice for an asphalt binder containing rubber powder to be used in the roof of
a building.
Table 7 shows the results of the thermal parameters for different asphalt mixtures with different
contents of RTR. It can be found that thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are decreased
with an increase in rubber powder content. When the filler is replaced by 100% crumb rubber,
the thermal conductivity coefficient is 19.8% lower than that of the control mixture. Therefore,
the addition of crumb rubber can considerably decrease the thermal conductivity coefficient of
an asphalt mixture. This can be attributed to the thermal conductivity coefficient of crumb rubber
being remarkably lower than that of mineral filler. Conversely, the VHC of an asphalt mixture
increases with an increase in crumb rubber content. The VHC of a mixture with 100% crumb
rubber powder is 11.4% higher than that of a control mixture. This means that more energy is
needed to increase the temperature of an asphalt mixture with crumb rubber. The thermal prop-
erties of materials essentially depend on their thermal conductivity coefficient, thermal diffusion
coefficient and VHC. In terms of asphalt pavement, the heat transfer from the surface layer to
388 M. Chen et al.

Figure 6. Vertical temperature distributions versus time for asphalt mixtures with or without RTR.

the base or sub-base can be considered as the heat moving process, and thus the temperature
distribution of an asphalt pavement is based on its variables of thermal properties.
Meanwhile, it can be found that the heat capacity of asphalt mortar decreases, but that of
an asphalt mixture increases with the increase in rubber powder content. As is well known,
95% of asphalt mixture is aggregates, while 5% is asphalt mortar, and the thermal properties of
aggregates have a great effect on the heat capacity of an asphalt mixture, which indicates that
further research needs to be carried out, especially on the thermal properties of each component
including asphalt binder, rubber powder, limestone filler and aggregates in the mixture.

3.3. Vertical temperature distribution

Figure 6 shows the temperature versus time curve of mixtures with 100% crumb rubber. It can
be seen that the surface temperature of the mixture with crumb rubber is higher than that of the
control sample, while its inner temperature is lower. The probable reason is that the incorporation
of rubber decreases the thermal conductivity coefficient of the asphalt mixture, while the total
quantity of absorbed heat can be considered as the same. As a result, the surface temperature of
the mixture with rubber is higher than that of the control sample, while its inner temperature is
lower. As reported in the literature (Bruce et al., 2010), a pavement with low thermal conductivity
may heat up at the surface but will not transfer that heat throughout the other pavement layers as
quickly as a pavement with higher conductivity.

3.4. High-temperature performance

The vertical deformation of asphalt mixtures is shown in Figure 7. It can be noted that the defor-
mations of all mixtures increase with an increase in the loading time. Until the loading times
reach 3600s, the load is removed and the deformation of mixtures is recovered. The mixtures
with 50% and 100% replacements exhibit lower permanent vertical deformations than the con-
trol sample, which indicates that the use of crumb rubber as mineral filler can increase the rutting
resistance of asphalt mixtures by using a dry process. Moreover, the deformation recovery val-
ues of mixtures with crumb rubber are higher than that of the control sample (Table 8), which
indicates that the use of crumb rubber makes the mixtures more elastic.

3.5. Moisture sensitivity

Figure 8 shows the TSR value of asphalt mixtures subjected to a freeze–thaw cycle. It can be
observed that the TSR values for the mixtures with crumb rubber powder, especially partially
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 389

Figure 7. Static creep strain of asphalt mixtures with different contents of RTR.

Table 8. Deformation recovery of asphalt mixtures with different contents of

RTR.
Maximum Permanent
Content of deformation deformation after
waste tyre under loading removing the loading Deformation
powder (%) (mm) (mm) recovery (%)

0 0.1305 ± 0.00003 0.0424 ± 0.00002 67.5

50 0.1724 ± 0.00002 0.0267 ± 0.00001 84.5
100 0.1938 ± 0.00004 0.0061 ± 0.00003 96.9
Note: Deformation recovery = 100%*(maximum deformation − permanent deforma-
tion)/maximum deformation.

100

80
TSR (%)

60

40

20

0
0% 50% 60% 72% 100%
Content of crumb rubber

Figure 8. TSR values of asphalt mixtures with different contents of RTR.

replacing limestone powder, are lower than that of the control sample without crumb rubber
powder. Moreover, the TSR value of the mixture with 100% crumb rubber powder is close to
that of the control sample with 100% limestone powder. The results indicate that the mixing
of crumb rubber and limestone powder can affect the moisture sensitivity of the asphalt mixture,
and, that is to say, that the partial replacement of limestone powder by crumb rubber will affect the
adhesion property between an asphalt binder and an aggregate. As a result, crumb rubber powder
should be used as mineral filler of asphalt mixtures to totally replace the limestone powder in
future research.
Figure 9 shows the retained Marshall stability of asphalt mixtures with and without crumb
rubber. The mixtures with crumb rubber powder show a lower retained Marshall stability than
390 M. Chen et al.

Retain marshall stability (%)

98
97
96
95
94
93
92
91
0% 50% 60% 72% 100%
Content of crumb rubber

Figure 9. Retained Marshall stability of asphalt mixtures with different contents of RTR.

the control sample. However, the retained Marshall stability of all the mixtures with different
contents of crumb rubber powder is higher than 93%, which can meet the requirements of China’s
specification. As a result, the application of crumb rubber powder in an asphalt mixture can
provide the promised retained Marshall stability results.

4. Conclusions
This research focused on a laboratory evaluation of the thermal performance of asphalt binders
and mixtures using RTR as mineral filler. Based on the analysis of laboratory experimental
results, the following conclusions can be summarised and drawn:

(1) The utilisation of RTR as filler can increase the softening point but decrease penetration
and ductility of an asphalt binder, which indicates that an asphalt mortar with RTR has a
higher viscosity at high temperature.
(2) The asphalt binders and mixtures containing 100% RTR as filler have lower thermal
conductivity and thermal diffusivity and VHC than a control binder and mixture with
100% limestone filler, which illustrates that the addition of rubber powder can reduce the
thermal conductivity and improve the heat insulation performance of asphalt binders and
mixtures.
(3) The heat capacity of an asphalt mixture with 100% RTR is higher than that of a mix-
ture with 100% limestone filler, but it is the reverse for asphalt mortar, which indicates
that further research need to be carried out, especially on the thermal properties of each
component including asphalt binder, rubber powder, limestone filler and aggregates in
the mixture.
(4) The vertical temperature distribution of an asphalt mixture shows that the surface temper-
ature of an asphalt mixture containing rubber as filler is higher and the inner temperature
is slightly lower than that of the control mixture, which shows that the utilisation of RTR
can improve the heat insulation performance of asphalt mixtures.
(5) The asphalt mixtures using RTR as mineral filler exhibit lower permanent vertical defor-
mation and higher deformation recovery. It can be concluded that the utilisation of RTR
as filler can improve rutting resistance and flexibility of asphalt mixtures.
(6) The use of RTR as mineral filler in asphalt mixtures is helpful in improving the thermal
stability of asphalt mixtures, but it slightly reduces the property of moisture resistance.
Therefore, further study should be carried out to explore the application of RTR as
mineral filler in cool pavements.
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 391

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 50908183].

References
Asaeda, T., Ca, V. T., & Wake, A. (1996). Heat storage of pavement and its effect on the lower atmosphere.
Atmospheric Environment, 30(3), 413–427.
Brochure on the Use of Cool Pavements to Reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect. (2006). Prepared by the
town of Gilbert, Ariz. Retrieved from http://www.ci.gilbert.az.us/planning/rbanheatisland.cfm
Bruce, F., Kim, F., Jay, G., Lisa, H., Liv, H., David, H., . . . Don, W. (2010). Reducing urban heat islands:
Compendium of strategies – cool pavements. Retrieved from http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id = 920168
Cambridge Systematics, Inc. (2005). Cool pavements draft report. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/hiri/
resources/pdf/CoolPavementReport_Former%20Guide_complete.pdf
Cao, W. D. (2007). Study on properties of recycled tire rubber modified asphalt mixtures using dry process.
Construction and Building Materials, 21, 1011–1015.
Guillanmot, F., Goujard, L., Simard, D., & Boulangé, L. (2013). Influence of interface energy on compati-
bility between ground tyre rubber and bitumen used in asphalt pavement. Road Materials and Pavement
Design, 14(2), 372–383.
Hsu, T. W., Chen, S. C., & Hung, K. N. (2011). Performance evaluation of asphalt rubber in porous asphalt-
concrete mixtures. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 23(3), 342–349.
Huang, X. X., Li, X. L., Zhang, Y., Dong, D. W., & Zhang, L. Q. (2009). Investigation on the swelling
property of rubber in asphalt. Special Purpose Rubber Products, 30(3), 32–36.
Li, X., Chen, G. J., & Que, G. H. (2010). Diffusion kinetics of components of asphalt into waste rubber.
Journal of Wuhan University of Technology, 32(17), 26–29.
Lo Presti, D., & Airey, G. (2013). Tyre rubber-modified bitumen’s development: The effect of varying
processing conditions. Road Materials and Pavement Design, 14(4), 888–900.
Magdy, A. A. (1997). Engineering characterization of the interaction of asphalt with crumb rubber modifier
(CRM). Science & Engineering, 57(8), 5197–5208.
Mallick, R. B., Chen, B. L., & Bhowmick, S. (2009). Harvesting energy from asphalt pavements and
reducing the heat island effect. International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, 2(3), 214–228.
Memon, R. A., Leung, D. Y., Liu, C. H., & Leung, K. H. (2011). Urban heat island and its effect on the
cooling and heating demands in urban and suburban areas of Hong Kong. Theoretical and Applied
Climatology, 103(3–4), 441–450.
Peralta, J., Silva, H. M. R. D., Machado, A. V., Pais, J., Pereira, P. A. A., & Sousa, J. B. (2010). Changes
in rubber due to its interaction with bitumen when producing asphalt rubber. Road Materials and
Pavement Design, 11(4), 1009–1031.
Rahman, M. M., Airey, G. D., & Collop, A. C. (2010). Moisture susceptibility of high and low compaction
dry process crumb rubber–modified asphalt mixtures. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the
Transportation Research Board, 2180, 121–129.
Rizwan, A. M., Dennis, Y. C., & Liu, C. (2008). A review on the generation, determination and mitigation
of Urban Heat Island. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 20, 120–128.
Santamouris, M., Synnefa, A., & Karlessi, T. (2011). Using advanced cool materials in the urban built
environment to mitigate heat islands and improve thermal comfort conditions. Solar Energy, 85, 3085–
3102.
Xiao, F., Amirkhanian, S. N., & Shen, J. N. (2009). Effects of various long-term aging procedures on
the rheological properties of laboratory prepared rubberized asphalt binders. Journal of Testing and
Evaluation, 37(4), 329–336.
Xiao, F., Amirkhanian, S. N., Shen, J., & Putman, B. J. (2009). Influences of crumb rubber size and type on
reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) mixtures. Construction and Building Materials, 23(2), 1028–1034.
Zhu, H., Thong-On, N., & Zhang, X. (2002). Adding crumb rubber into exterior wall materials. Waste
Management and Research, 20, 407–413.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without
permission.