Study on the Mechanical Properties of Rubber Asphalt by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Introducing the crumb rubber into asphalt binder not only can improve the performances of asphalt binder significantly but also can recycle the waste tire economically. However, rubber asphalt presents different mechanical property for the complex sources of crumb rubber. In this study, rubber was classified according to the application situation and the components of tires and three kinds of rubber were selected as the representative of commonly used rubber. Afterwards, molecular dynamics simulations including molecular modelling, dynamics calculation, and mechanical properties analysis were conducted for rubber asphalt with the obtained rubber based on Materials Studio 8.0 software. The variation of mechanical properties of rubber asphalt with rubber contents and rubber types was investigated. The results show that the optimum rubber contents for the tire tread of passenger car, the tire tread of truck, and the tire sidewall are 15%, 5~10%, and 15% respectively. Moreover, rubber from the tire tread of passenger car and the tire sidewall should be given priority for actual applications in rubber asphalt. Graphical Abstract.