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An overview of crumb rubber modified asphalt

Article  in  International journal of physical sciences · September 2011

DOI: 10.5897/IJPSX11.007

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International Journal of the Physical Sciences Vol. 7(2), pp. 166 - 170, 9 January, 2012
Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/IJPS
DOI: 10.5897/IJPSX11.007
ISSN 1992-1950 ©2012 Academic Journals

Review

An overview of crumb rubber modified asphalt

Nuha S. Mashaan*, Asim Hassan Ali, Mohamed Rehan Karim and Mahrez Abdelaziz
Center for Transportation Research, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
Accepted 19 September, 2011

Roadways are considered one of the most important elements of infrastructure and they play an
essential role in our daily lives. In road pavement construction, the use of crumb rubber in the
modification of bitumen binder is considered as a smart solution for sustainable development by
reusing waste materials. It is believed that crumb rubber modifier (CRM) could be one of the alternative
polymer materials in improving bitumen binder performance properties of hot mix asphalt. This study
aims to present and discuss the findings from some of the studies, on the use of crumb rubber in
asphalt pavement.

Key words: Rubberised bitumen, crumb rubber modifier, rheology, rutting, fatigue cracking.

INTRODUCTION

Over the years, road structures have deteriorated more service, these tyres are not discarded. Although, the
rapidly due to increases in service traffic density, axle rubber as a polymer is a thermosetting material cross
loading and low maintenance services. To minimise the linked to processing and moulding, however, it cannot be
damage of pavement surface and increase durability of softened or remoulded by re-heating unlike other types of
flexible pavement, the conventional bitumen needs to be thermoplastics polymer which can be softened and
improved with regards to performance related properties, reshaped when heated. The major approach to solve this
such as resistance to permanent deformation (rutting) issue is the recycle and reuse of waste tyre rubber and
and fatigue cracking. The modification of bituminous the reclaim of rubber raw materials (Adhilkarri et al.,
binder has been explored over the past years in order to 2000). In recent years, researches on applications of
improve road pavement performance properties. rubberised bitumen binders have reported many advent-
There are many modification processes and additives ages. These advantages include improved bitumen
that are currently used in bitumen modifications, such as resistance to rutting due to high viscosity, high softening
styrene butadiene styrene (SBS), styrene-butadiene point and better resilience, improved bitumen resistance
rubber (SBR), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and crumb to surface initiated cracks, the reduction of fatigue/
rubber modifier (CRM). The use of commercial polymers, reflection cracking, the reduction of temperature suscepti-
such as SBS and SBR in road and pavement con- bility, improved durability as well as the reduction in road
struction will increase the construction cost as they are pavement maintenance costs (Liu et al., 2009).
highly expensive materials. However, with the use of
alternative materials, such as CRM, will definitely be
environmentally beneficial, and not only it can improve HISTORY OF USING CRUMB RUBBER AS A
the bitumen binder properties and durability, but it also MODIFIER IN BITUMINOUS PAVEMENT
has a potential to be cost effective (Hamed, 2010).
In recent times, a serious problem that leads to The earliest experiments date back to the 1840s, which
environment pollution is the abundance and the increase involved incorporating natural rubber into bitumen to
of waste tyre disposal. Large amounts of rubbers are increase its engineering performance properties. The
used as tyres for cars and trucks. Despite the long run in process of bitumen modification involving natural and
synthetic rubber was introduced as early as 1843
(Thompson, 1979). Then, in 1923, natural and synthetic
rubber modifications in bitumen were further improved
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: (Isacsson and Lu 1999; Yildrim, 2007). According to the
+603-79675339. Fax: +603-79552182. study of Yildrim (2007), the development of rubber-bitumen
 Mashaan et al. 167

materials being used as joint sealers, patches and grinding process method (Huang et al., 2007; Airey et al.,
membranes began in the late 1930s. In 1950, the use of 2003; Jeong et al., 2010). It observed that during the
scrap tyre in asphalt pavement was reported (Hanson et bitumen-rubber blending, due to higher stiffness and
al., 1994). tensile strength at elevated temperatures, the mixture
In 1960, Charlie Mac Donald working as head material had decreased rutting capability (Palit et al., 2004). The
engineer in Phoenix, Arizona, used ground tyre rubber as design method for conventional bitumen mixture can be
an additive in bitumen binder modification. He found that used for bitumen-rubber mixture as the mix stability being
after completing the mixing of crumb rubber with the the primary factor. Also, standard paving machinery can
conventional bitumen and allowing it to blend for mix be used for placement of bitumen-rubber mixture.
duration of 45 to 60 min, there were new material However, a pneumatic tyre roller is not suitable as
properties produced, which resulted in swelling in the size asphalt rubber will stick onto the roller tyres (Huang et al.,
of the rubber particles at higher temperatures allowing for 2007). Rubber pavement association found that using
higher concentrations of liquid bitumen contents in tyre rubber in open-graded mixture binder could decrease
pavement mixes (Huffman, 1980). In the mid-1980s, the tyre noise by approximately 50%. In addition, in spray
Europeans began the development of newer polymers applications, rubber particles of multiple sizes had a
and additives for use in bitumen binder modification better sound absorbing. Moreover, another advantage of
(Brule, 1996). In recent years, the use of crumb rubber using asphalt rubber is to increase the life-span of the
has gained interest in pavement modification and has pavement. However, recommendations were made to
shown that crumb tyre rubber can improve the bitumen assess the cost effectiveness of asphalt rubber (Huang et
performance properties (Brown et al., 1997). al., 2007).

CRUMB TYRE RUBBER GRINDING PROCESS PHYSICAL AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF

RUBBERISED BITUMEN
The crumb rubber is made by shredding scrap tyre, which
is a particular material free of fibre and steel. The rubber Penetration properties
particle is graded and found in many sizes and shapes.
The crumb rubber is described or measured by the mesh The penetration is a measure of hardness or softness of
screen or sieve size through which it passes during the bitumen binder which shows an effect by adding crumb
production process. To produce crumb rubber, generally, rubber to bitumen binder; it decreases as rubber content
it is important to reduce the size of the tyres. There are is increased. The penetration shows lower values as
two techniques to produce crumb rubber: ambient rubber content increases at different mix conditions of
grinding and the cryogenic process (Becker et al., 2001). rubberised bitumen binder, indicating that the binder
The ambient grinding process can be divided into two becomes stiff and more viscous (Mashaan et al., 2011a).
methods: granulation and cracker mills. The ambient Mahrez (1999) investigated the properties of rubberised
describes the temperature when the waste tyres rubber bitumen prepared by physical blending of bitumen 80/100
as its size is reduced. The material is loaded inside the penetration grade with different crumb rubber content and
crack mill or granulator at ambient temperature. The various aging phases. The results of penetration values
cryogenic grinding is a cleaner, slightly faster operation decreased over the aging as well as before aging by
resulting in production of fine mesh size. The high cost of increasing the rubber content in the mix. Also, the
this process is a disadvantage due to the added cost of modified binders have lower penetration values than
liquid nitrogen. unmodified binders.

PERFORMANCE OF CRUMB TYRE RUBBER IN Elastic recovery properties

BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
The elastic recovery or elasticity describes the ability of a
There are two rather different methods in usage of tyre bitumen binder to elongate when the tension is applied
rubber in bitumen binders. Firstly, crumb rubber in the and to recover its original shape when the tension is
bitumen is dissolved as binder modifier. Second, is by released. The degree of elastic recovery was used as an
substituting a portion of fine aggregates with ground indicator of permanent deformation in pavement
rubber that does not completely react with bitumen materials (Yildirim, 2007).
(Huang et al., 2007). According to the study of Jensen and Abdelrahman
Numerous factors can influence the modification effects (2006), the elastic recovery property is very important in
which consist of base bitumen constituents, blending time both fatigue and rutting resistance selection and evalu-
and temperature, the percentage of rubber, the gradation ation. The elastic recovery is a property that indicates the
of crumb rubber, the type of mixing (wet or dry) and the quality of polymer components in bitumen binders. Oliver
168 Int. J. Phys. Sci.

(1981) concluded from his study, that the elastic recovery BITUMEN - RUBBER BLENDS INTERACTION AND
of rubberised bitumen binders leads to an increase as the ABSORPTION
rubber particle size decreases. Modified bitumen binders
showed a significant enhancement on the elastic Modified bitumen using crumb rubber showed an
recovery, and, in contrast, the ductility decreased with improvement in the performance of pavements over the
respect to unmodified binders (Mashaan et al., 2011a, b). base binders as a result of the interaction of crumb
rubber with base binders. Due to this interaction, there
are noticeable changes in the viscosity, physical and
Ductility properties rheological properties of the rubberised bitumen binder
(Airey et al., 2003; Bahia and Davies, 1995), leading to
The ductility is a distinct strength of bitumen, allowing it to high resistance of rutting of pavements (Huang et al., 2007).
undergo notable deformation or elongation. The ductility From the aforementioned review of literature, the
is defined as the distance in centimetre, to which a primary mechanism of the interaction is swelling of the
standard sample or briquette of the material will be rubber particles caused by the absorption of light
elongated without breaking. fractions into these particles and stiffening of the residual
The studies of Mashaan et al. (2011a, b) concluded binder phase (Abedlrahman and Carpenter, 1999; Airey
that finer rubber particles resulted in higher ductility et al., 2003). The rubber particles are constricted in their
elongation and also, that toughness would increase as movement into the binder matrix to move about due to
rubber content increases. A combined effect of both time the swelling process which limits the free space between
and temperature was noted with minimum elastic the rubber particles. Compared to the coarser particles,
recovery value improved at maximum time and maximum the finer particles swell easily thus, developing higher
temperature of two hours and 240°C, respectively binder modification (Abedlrahman and Carpenter, 1999).
(Jensen and Abdelrahman, 2006). The bitumen-rubber The swelling capacity of rubber particle is linked to the
modification resulted in a better rutting resistance and penetration grade of the binder, crude source and the
higher ductility. However, the modified binder was nature of the crumb rubber modifier (Airey et al., 2003).
susceptible to decomposition and oxygen absorption. According to the study of Shen et al. (2009), the factors
There were problems of low compatibility, because of the which affect the digestion process of the bitumen and
high molecular weight. Furthermore, the recycled tyre rubbers blends are rubber content, rubber size, binder
rubber decreases reflective cracking, which in turn viscosity and blending conditions.
increases durability. In using waste tyre rubber, there are
however, several practical and experimental issues, such
Rubber content
as it requires an elevated composite of temperatures and
extended digestion time during the mixing process for it According to a study conducted by Lee et al. (2008), the
to be diffused in the bitumen (Yildrim, 2007). higher crumb rubber content produced increased
viscosity at 135°C and improved the rutting properties. It
was also observed that the increased crumb rubber
Viscosity and softening point properties
amount (fine crumb rubber) produced rubberised bitumen
with higher viscosity and lower resilience. However,
The viscosity refers to the fluid property of the bitumen,
optimum crumb rubber content still needs to be deter-
and it is a gauge of flow-resistance. At the application
mined for each crumb rubber size and asphalt binder. It is
temperature, viscosity greatly influences the potential of
believed that a physicochemical interaction that occurs
the resulting paving mixes. During compaction or mixing,
between the asphalt and the crumb rubber alters the
the low or high viscosity has been observed to result in
effective size and physical properties of the rubber
lower stability values. The softening point refers to the
particle, thus influencing pavement performance (Huang
temperature at which the bitumen attains a particular
et al., 2007).
degree of softening. The use of crumb rubber in bitumen
Becker et al. (2001) claimed that blend properties will
modification leads to an increase in the softening point
be influenced by the amount of crumb rubber added to
and viscosity as rubber crumb content increases
the bitumen. Higher amounts indicated significant
(Mahrez, 1999; Mashaan et al., 2011a). Mahrez and
changes in the blend properties. As rubber content gene-
Rehan (2003) claimed that there is a consistent relation-
rally increases, it leads to increased viscosity, increased
ship between viscosity and softening point at different
resilience, increased softening point and decreases
aging phases of rubberised bitumen binder.
penetration at 25°C.
Also, it is reported that the higher crumb rubber content
leads to higher viscosity and softening point. The
viscosity is a continuously increasing non linear function Rubber particle size
of rubber content and the relative increase is a factor
related to the application of temperature (Bahia and The study of Souza and Weissman (1994) using a binder
Davies, 1995). with 15% rubber content (size of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mm) in
 Mashaan et al. 169

dense-graded bitumen. as a result of continued densification by traffic load.

The mixture showed improved performance in dynamic According to Sousa and Weissman (1994) study, rutting
stability, 48 h residual stability, flexural strength and in bitumen pavement develops as load applications
strain value. Asphalt containing 0.2 and 0.4 mm size increases. The rutting seems as longitudinal depressions
rubber indicated the best laboratory results (Souza and in the wheel paths with small upheavals on the sides.
Weissman, 1994). The particles size disruption of crumb These are due to a combination of densification and
rubber influenced the physical properties of bitumen- shear deformation.
rubber blend. In general, small difference in the particles The rutting is a primary measure of the performance of
size has no significant effects on blend properties. pavement in several pavement design methods. The
However, the crumb rubber size can certainly make a big rutting can occur as a result of problematic sub grade,
difference. According to a study of Shen et al. (2009), the unbound base course. Rutting failures are consequence
particle size effects of CRM on high temperature pro- of heavy truckloads with high tyre pressures and high
perties of rubberised bitumen binders was an influential pavement temperatures. Hence, the considerable
factor on visco-elastic properties. The coarser rubber selection of bitumen binder and aggregate combination
produced a modified binder with high shear modules and will boost in providing optimum performing asphalt
an increased content of the crumb rubber decreased the pavements (Sousa and Weissman, 1994). Brown and
creep stiffness which in turn showed significant thermal Cross (1992) reported that permanent deformation in
cracking resistance. bituminous mixture is caused by consolidation and/or
lateral movement of the mixture under traffic. Shear
failure (lateral movement) of the bituminous mixture
Blending conditions courses generally occurs in the top 100 mm of the
In general, bitumen binder and ground tyre rubber are pavement surface. However, it can run deeper if proper
mixed together and blended at elevated temperatures for materials are not used. Moreover, it was evident that
differing periods of time prior to using them as a paving rutting is caused mainly by deformation flow rather than
binder. These two factors work together to evaluate the volume change.
performance properties of rubberised bitumen binder Tayfur et al. (2007) claimed that after the initial densifi-
through blending process of bitumen-rubber interaction. cation, the permanent deformation of the bituminous
This variation in mixing time and temperature that results mixture happens due to shear loads which take place
due to the normal activities are related to bitumen paving close to the pavement surface which in fact is the contact
construction. Nevertheless, the consistency of rubberised area between the tyre and the pavement. These efforts
bitumen rubber can be affected by the time and increase without the volume variations in the bituminous
temperature used to combine the components and thus, mixture. They are the primary mechanisms in the
must be cautiously used for it optimum potential to be development of rutting during the life span of the
achieved. Xiao et al. (2006) studied the effects of reaction pavement design.
time on the permanent changes of crumb rubber after
mixing with bitumen. Fatigue cracking
The size reduction of rubber particle increased with the
blend duration and with decreasing crumb rubber size. Fatigue is one of most important distresses in asphalt
Lee et al. (2006) reported that a longer reaction time was pavement structure due to repeated load of heavy traffic
ineffective in increasing the high temperature viscosity of services which occur at intermediate and low tempera-
the control binder. In a joined experiment, Mashaan et al. tures. Aflaki and Memarzadeh (2011) used different
(2011b) also found that the blending time has an shear methods at low and intermediate temperature to
insignificant effect in the case of 30 and 60 min on rheo- study the effect of rheological properties of crumb rubber
logical properties of rubberised asphalt. Paulo and Jorge on fatigue cracking. The results showed that the high
(2008) investigated the effect of blending conditions (time shear blending has more effect on improvement at low
and temperature) on penetration, softening point and temperatures than the low shear blend. The use of crumb
resilience modulus. The results showed that there was no rubber modified with bitumen binder seems to enhance
significant effect for three blending time (45, 60 and 90 the fatigue resistance, as illustrated in a number of studies
min) on modified binder properties, although, there was a (Raad and Saboundjian, 1998; Soleymani et al., 2004;
tendency for blending time effect to become constant McGennis, 1995). The improved performance of bitumen
between 60 and 90 min. rubber pavements when compared with conventional
bitumen pavements has partly resulted from improved
rheological properties of the rubberised bitumen binder.
PAVEMENT DISTRESS

Rutting performance CONCLUSION

Rutting defined as longitudinal depression in wheel paths This review study presented the application of crumb
170 Int. J. Phys. Sci.

rubber modifier in the asphalt modification of flexible Liu S, Cao W, Fang J, Shang S (2009). Variance analysis and
performance evaluation of different crumb rubber modified (CRM)
pavement. From the results of previous studies, it aspires
asphalt. Construct. Build. Mater., 23: 2701-2708.
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improve resistance to rutting and produce pavements rubber – modified asphalt binder. Transportation Research Record: J.
with better durability by minimising the distresses caused Transport. Res. Board, 1488: 62-71.
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on the bituminous mix. M.Sc. Dissertation, Faculty of Engineering,
ensured of safer and smoother roads. Furthermore, the University of Malaya, Malaysia.
use of crumb rubber modifier as an additive in bitumen Mahrez A, Rehan M (2003). Rheological evaluation of aging properties
modified binder would reduce pollution problems and of crumb rubber-modified bitumen. Journal of the Eastern Asia
Society for Transportation Studied, 5: 820-833.
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