A Temperature-Independent Methodology for Polymer Bitumen Modification Evaluation Based on DSR Measurement

Owing to the continuous increase of traffic loads, bitumen modification has been manifested as an efficient methodology to enhance asphaltic pavement performance. Currently, the modification index, defined as the ratio of mechanical properties (e.g., complex modulus) before and after bitumen modification, is extensively adopted to evaluate the modification degree. However, bituminous materials behave as temperature-dependent, which indicates that the mechanical property varies with measured temperatures. As a result, the calculated modification index also shows temperature-dependent property, which inhibits the use of modification index. For this reason, this study introduced a method to eliminate the temperature-dependency of the modification index. In specific, a mathematical model considering the properties of modifiers was firstly established to predict the modification index-temperature curve (MI-T curve). In what follows, the temperature-dependency of modification index was analyzed to verify the proposed model on three types of modifiers, which were graphene, Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS), and Ethyl-Vinyl-Acetate (EVA), respectively. The results indicated that the developed model could efficiently predict the MI-T curves. Besides, the effective modification area (EMA) and optimal modification index (OMI) were two reasonable indicators that evaluate the bitumen modification without considering the temperature-dependency.