j o u r n a l o f t r a f fi c a n d t r a n s p o r t a t i o n e n g i n e e r i n g ( e n g l i s h e d i t i o n ) 2 0 2 1 ; 8 ( 3 ) : 3 7 4 e3 8 7

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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Review Article

Characterization of bonding property in asphalt

pavement interlayer: A review

Kai Yang a,b, Rui Li a,*

a
School of Highway, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China
b
Department of Civil, Construction and Environment Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA

highlights

Mechanical principles of interlayer bonding failure are analysed and K-value can be proposed as an ideal parameter.

The shear, tensile, torsion and non-destructive tests combining with corresponding mechanical parameters are summarized.

Some influence factors appear to play a significant role in increasing the risk of interlayer bonding failure.

article info abstract

Article history: Higher requirements are put forward for interlayer bonding property with the increase of
Received 13 April 2020 traffic load, including bearing capacity and durability. Typical diseases caused by insuffi-
Received in revised form cient adhesion between layers are slippage cracking, de-bonding and pavement defor-
3 October 2020 mation. The correct characterization of bonding property becomes necessary with evolving
Accepted 13 October 2020 concerns of interlayer failure and material innovations. In the past forty years, many re-
Available online 5 May 2021 searches have focused on the evaluation of interlayer bonding property, and some valuable
conclusions have been drawn. In this review, the mechanism, evaluation method and
Keywords: influencing factors of the interlayer bond strength are reviewed. The common test
Interlayer bonding equipment can be classified into the shear, pull-off and torsion test. Different influence
Asphalt pavement factors are analyzed including tack coat property, temperature, asphalt aging and surface
Interface strength condition. It is recommended to select the appropriate tack coat rate, and apply the tack
Tack coat coat under the conditions of clean, dry, high surface texture and good compaction. How-
Influencing factors ever, the interlayer failure mechanism and the interaction between the different influ-
encing factors need to be further studied. The future work can focus on the correlation
between different test methods and evaluation parameters, which would address the lack
of harmonization or consistency among various evaluation approaches. Meanwhile, it is
significant to add the evaluation of interlayer bonding property into the system of pave-
ment design.
© 2021 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on
behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-
ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 13891950910.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (K. Yang), [email protected] (R. Li).
Peer review under responsibility of Periodical Offices of Chang'an University.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2020.10.005
2095-7564/© 2021 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co.
Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 375

influenced by some conditions including temperature,

1. Introduction moisture, cleanness, interface friction, vehicle load and so
on (Canestrari et al., 2005). Meanwhile, though related
The interlayer bonding property is a key issue that affects the research has been conducted from the beginning of Uzan for
service life of asphalt pavements. Typical diseases caused by more than forty years (Uzan et al., 1978), the test method
poor bonding property include slippage cracking, de-bonding and standardized specification may not be paid with enough
and pavement deformation (Fig. 1). Interlayer slippage attention. Most test equipment is self-made and lack of
cracking is a common damage due to poor interface bonding uniform specifications in the lab or on-site.
between asphalt overlay and underlayer, which is generally In most countries, the current specifications are extremely
caused by the turning and braking of the vehicle (Kumar and simple for the interlayer treatment of asphalt pavement
Saride, 2018a). The pavements with a better interlayer (AASHTO, 2015; Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic
bonding can bear the traffic load and disperse the load from of China, 2011). The screen of interlayer materials is not
top to bottom, whereas a poor bonding condition can lead to involved under different climatic and construction
the premature damage under the excessive vehicle loads or conditions. In addition, in most cases, the constructors did
moisture (Romanoschi and Metcalf, 2001; Wang et al., 2017a). not strictly control the process of spreading tack coat and
As early as the mid 1970s, extensive investigations have only relied on the empirical method to construct. Therefore,
been carried out on the interlayer slip in England (Transport the interlayer stability cannot be effectively guaranteed on
and Road Research Laboratory, 1980). Afterwards, the site, which affects the durability of asphalt pavements.
interlaminar bonding property was studied experimentally In this review, the basic mechanical principle of interlayer
(Brown and Brunton, 1984; Shahin et al., 1987; Uzan et al., bonding is illustrated. Experiments and mechanical parame-
1978). The interface failure cannot be directly reflected on ters are analyzed, in order to precisely evaluate the interlayer
the pavement surface. Hence, understanding of interlayer bonding property. The influence of some factors on interlayer
damage was not enough then. In order to alleviate the bonding performance is also analyzed on site and in the lab-
premature damage of pavement interlayer, the tack coat is oratory. The purpose of this study is to summarize and
usually spreading on the surface of underlayer. Referring to discuss the various evaluation methods on interface bond,
the definition of American Society for Testing and Materials which has the potential to propose a standard interlaminar
(ASTM, 2003), the tack coat could be interpreted as asphalt bond test procedure.
emulsion or liquid asphalt sprayed on existing asphalt or
concrete layers, new HMA (hot mix asphalt) pavement
surface to build a powerful adhesive between the two layers
(Wang et al., 2017a). It provides a strong bonding to ensure 2. Basic principle of interlayer bonding
the integrity between the upper and lower asphalt layers. failure
Ample researches have been conducted on a certain amount
of tack coat can improve the durability of the interface (Bae Under the repetitions of vehicle load, the accumulative inter-
et al., 2010; Chen and Huang, 2010; Raposeiras et al., 2013; layer damage appears to be severe and the loading bear capacity
Zhang, 2017). is decreasing. When the cumulative effect of traffic load accu-
The shear, pull-off and flexural-tensile strength, crack- mulates to a certain value, the interface shear stress is greater
resistance and shear fatigue resistance are generally utilized than the shear strength of tack coat (Wang et al., 2017b; Xu et al.,
as the indicators of the bonding performance (Canestrani 2012). It will cause the failure of the interlayer bonding property,
et al., 2006; Canestrari et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2011; Mo et al., leading to reducing the service life of overall pavement
2009; Mohammad et al., 2002b; Saride and Kumar, 2018; structure. There are several reasons resulting in the interlayer
Wang, 2010; Wu et al., 2017). The shear strength is a routine damage more frequently, though the mechanism of interlayer
parameter, but it is a complex indicator of the interlayer failure is not fully clear. The influence factors of interlayer
deformation resistance. Interlayer bonding strength is bonding property have been proposed in section 5.

Fig. 1 e Examples of typical damage caused by interlayer failure (from the survey of the toll plaza of highway in Jilin
Province, China). (a) Shoving. (b) De-bonding. (c) Cracking.
376 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387

2.1. Evaluation parameters

The layered elastic theory (LET) model is adopted into the

current design of asphalt pavement (Pasetto et al., 2019). The
contact state between layers is associated with the on-site
treatment conditions. When the tack coat is sprinkled
during the construction process, the interlayer is normally
assumed to be a fully bonding condition. In reality, the
interface is under a certain bonding condition between fully
bonding and completely sliding. The actual bonding
condition is different from these two extreme states.
Adequate adhesion is derived from the cohesive force of
asphalt binder, friction between asphalt and aggregate. If the
pavements are subjected to the overload during a long time,
the poor interface adhesion will accelerate the slippage and Fig. 3 e Interlayer shear stress versus relative
separation of different layers. The relative displacement displacement.
exists between upper and lower layers due to the interface
damage. In order to accurately interpret the interlayer
slippage, the Goodman model can be used to measure the
shear resistance (Goodman et al., 1968; Mohammad et al.,
2011). The model is shown in the Fig. 2. interlayer tangential modulus Ks. The K-value is a variable
In the Goodman model, when the relative horizontal value until fully failure of interface adhesion. Therefore, it is
displacement of the double layers is Dm, the expression of feasible to evaluate the bonding property between layers by
interlayer shear stress t can be summarized as follow. using the interlayer tangential modulus. Ample researches
have been conducted on the influence of different K-value
t ¼ Ks Dm (1) on the stressestrain distribution of in-service asphalt pave-
ment (Canestrari et al., 2005; Chen and Huang, 2010).
where Ks is the interlayer tangential modulus (N/mm3), a
As early as in 1978, the characterization of the interface
secant modulus equal to the ratio of average shear stress to
bonding property was studied by utilizing the interlayer
the interlayer relative horizontal displacement, t is the
tangential modulus (Uzan et al., 1978). The stress distribution
interlayer shear stress (MPa), Dm is the horizontal displace-
of pavement interlayer was obtained under different K-value.
ment (mm).
The effects of multiple parameters on overstress and
It is worth noting that, from the unit of Ks , it can be seen
interlayer failure were also illustrated. It was found that
that Ks is not a traditional modulus. The larger Ks means the
when the K-value was within the region of 1e102 MPa/mm,
better interlayer bonding property, and interlayer tends to be
the stress or strain magnitude changed rapidly at the
completely full bond. When Ks is close to 0, the interlayer
bottom of the upper layer. Some researchers are focus on
tends to be fully sliding (Uzan et al., 1978). The value of Ks can
the magnitude of the stiffness modulus of the interlayer (Al
be measured by the shear stress and displacement at the
Hakim et al., 1996; Canestrari et al., 2013; Hakim, 2002). The
interface, and then it can be used to analyze the interlayer
actual interlayer bond conditions were determined by using
bonding failure. The curve of interlayer shear stress and
the K-value, while the ultimate value of stiffness modulus
displacement is shown in the Fig. 3 (Chen and Huang, 2010).
was also calculated. The K-value was between 102 MPa/mm
It can be seen from the Fig. 3 that the interlayer shear stress
for fully sliding and 102 MPa/mm for fully bonding
changes synchronously with the increase of the relative
(Canestrari et al., 2013). The actual K-value should be within
displacement before failure. Until the relative displacement
this range to guarantee the ideal bonding between layers.
increases to a certain critical value, the shear stress reaches
Bae et al. (2010) found a poor relationship between K-value
the maximum value. Due to the existence of residual stress,
and tack coat rate, whereas the interlayer shear strength was
the shear stress will not drop off sharply. The slope
affected by the tack coat rate. An important conclusion from
corresponding to each displacement point represents the
this work was that K-value was governed by surface texture
and roughness. Song et al. (2017) evaluated the surface
roughness between open-graded friction course (OGFC) and
underlying layers at several tack coat rates. The K-value was
higher when the texture depth increased at the optimum
application rate. The change direction of interface stiffness
was consistent with peak shear stress when application rate
was varying. Meanwhile, the interrelationship existed
between K-value, shear strength and texture depth. A
subsequent study by Song et al. (2018) showed that normal
stress had an influence on the K-value. The interface
stiffness and shear strength under different normal stress
Fig. 2 e Goodman model. were in agreement with the Coulomb criteria. The ranking
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 377

Fig. 4 e Classification of the interface damage. (a) Sliding failure. (b) Pull-off failure. (c) Tear failure.

based on interlayer shear strength and stiffness was similar binder. The interlayer shear strength approximately conforms
for different pavement layers. to the Coulomb's criterion (Ahmed et al., 2015; Ai et al., 2007;
Handin, 1969)
2.2. Mechanics mechanism t ¼ c þ stanð4Þ (2)

In accordance with the cracking propagation of fracture me- where c is the cohesion force of the material (MPa), s is the
chanics, the failure modes of interlayer can be classified by the normal stress caused by external load (MPa), 4 is the internal
external manifestation of the damage. The failure modes can friction angle of interlayer (rad). The peak envelope line of
be divided into sliding, pull-off, and tear failure (Roberts and Mohr plain can be considered as the failure criterion of Cou-
Kibler, 1971; Wilkins, 1980; Yukio et al., 1983). The bonding lomb's law.
failure of the asphalt layer is prone to in-plane shear mode The pull-off (tensile) failure is that the upper and lower
(Fig. 4(a)) and tensile mode (Fig. 4(b)) during the service life layers are separated in the vertical direction. The main dif-
(Raab and Partl, 2004a,b). The schematic diagram is as ference between pull-off and sliding failure is the energy
shown in Fig. 4. release rate. At the same time, the construction of different
In interface mechanics, the sliding failure is the relative layers is disconnected in asphalt pavements. Pull-off test is
horizontal displacement between the upper and lower layers widely used to evaluate the damage of interlayer caused by
of the interface. Under the horizontal shear stress, the inter- vertical tension (Hakimzadeh et al., 2012; Mohammad et al.,
face damage will be similar to the sliding failure (Fig. 4(a)). In 2009; Tschegg et al., 1995). The state of art is discussed in
this case, the horizontal shear strength is a threshold of the section 3.2.
interlayer failure point. Due to the lack of internal friction, For the double-layer composite beam of asphalt mixture,
the interface is more vulnerable to shear failure especially when normal stress is applied to the mid-span, the poor
when the vehicle is braking or starting. There are many interface bonding usually leads to the compression at the
factors influencing the interlayer shear failure, which are upper layer and tension at the lower layer (Fig. 5). If the stress
mainly divided into: (1) the design of pavement structure states of different layers are not similar, there will be energy
and alignment is unreasonable, resulting in the excessive difference between layers. Thus, the interface is prone to
shear stress (Canestrari et al., 2013); (2) the insufficient deform or distort.
bonding property of tack coat materials leads to the sudden
change of shear stress (Mohammad et al., 2002a; Raab and
Partl, 2004a,b; Woods, 2004). Therefore, it is necessary to 3. Experimental characterization
analyze the mechanics mechanism of interlayer shear
strength. 3.1. Shear test
Coulomb's failure law is generally adopted as the failure
criterion of asphalt mixture. The mixture strength is derived Nowadays, shear test is the most widely used method to
from the friction between aggregates, the adhesion between evaluate interlayer bonding property. There have been a great
asphalt binder and aggregate, and the cohesion of asphalt number of studies about the interlayer shear test from the late

Fig. 5 e Deformation of composite beam. (a) Composite beam with tack coat. (b) The deformation of composite beam.
378 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387

1970s. As mentioned before, Uzan's team carried out inter- showed shear-torque fatigue loading led to delaminating of
layer direct shear test on the cube specimen under different the double layers. The location and evolution of AE were
temperatures. The influence of the tack coat rate and normal utilized as a metric to quantify the interlayer damage. The
stress on shear strength was analyzed (Uzan et al., 1978). bonding strength between different HMA layers was tested
Tschegg et al. (1995) adopted a wedge-shaped split test to by Florida DOT shear tester, the UTEP pull-off test, and the
evaluate the bond property between layers. A wedge-shaped torque bond test (Tashman et al., 2006). The interlayer shear
gap between layers was cut from the cube specimens. The strength, torsional shear and tensile strength can be
interlayer stress was divided into horizontal and vertical measured by these three test machines. FDOT shear tester
stress by adjusting the angle of wedge-shaped gap. The aim was recommended as a laboratory test, rather than a field
was to simulate the actual load on pavement interlayer, and test. This machine was able to better simulate the stress
then the fracture energy was obtained under different state caused by the debonding of interlayer.
interlayer bonding conditions. With the further development Consequently, the commonly used shear tests have been
of compaction machines, and the gyratory compaction was widely applied to the investigation of the interface damage in
considered to be analogous to the actual compaction status the pavements. The test conditions are similar to the inter-
during the pavement construction. layer slippage, especially for the braking or starting of the
Mohammad et al. (2002a) fabricated the standard specimen vehicle.
by Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC). Then constant-
height repeated shear test was carried out under different 3.2. Pull-off test
tack coat types. The effects of test temperature, tack coat
types and application rate on shear strength were studied. The pull-off or tensile test can be conducted on site or in the
The results showed that the temperature had a great lab. The tensile stress is imposed on the double-layer speci-
influence on the interlayer stability, and the shear strength mens (Canestrari et al., 2013). Kumar and Saride (2018a)
at 25  C was about 5 times of that at 55  C. Canestrari et al. evaluated the anti-cracking property of geosynthetic-
(2005) used Ancona shear testing research and analysis interlayers by direct tensile test. In this work, the digital
(ASTRA) to test the shear strength of tack coat under imaging technology was adopted to investigate the vertical
different interlayer conditions. By changing the curing time, displacement, evolution and propagation of the crack. The
preparation method, material properties, temperature and geosynthetics can reduce the cracking probability of the
treatment process of the double-layer composite specimens, double-layer asphalt specimen with lower tensile strain.
the peak shear stress tpeak was recommended as the Moreno-Navarro and Rubio-Ga  mez (2013) used the so-called
parameter of evaluating the bonding property. UGR-FACT equipment to analyze the influence of tensile and
Raab et al. (2012) used layer parallel shear test (LPDS) and shear stresses caused by traffic loads. The test equipment
shear box testing to comprehensively evaluate the interlayer simulated the actual traffic load and fatigue process.
shear resistance, and analyzed the diameter of the ball Mohammad et al. (2009) proposed a new pull-off device for
(simulating the aggregate size) on shear bonding strength field testing, which can be used to calculate the bonding
and stiffness. Raposeiras et al. (2012) focused on the strength of the tack coat. The research showed that the
influence of the surface texture and the tack coat rate on the softening point was a suitable parameter for the interlayer
interlayer shear strength through the laboratory simulation. pull-off test. The results of this study were incorporated into
The research showed that the interlayer macro structure National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)
and the tack coat dosage had a significant impact on the project 9e40. The purpose of this project is to analyze the
interlayer treatment. Canestrari et al. (2013) organized a best application technology, equipment types, calibration
laboratory comparative test to measure the maximum shear, procedures, and tack coat rate. The final project report is
torque load and the corresponding displacement. The aim provided as NCHRP report 712 (Mohammad et al., 2012).
was to accurately evaluate the interface adhesion and solve
the problem of lack of correlation and coordination between 3.3. Torsion test
the different test methods. The shear or torque strength was
a function of the following parameters: diameter, test In the torque test, the steel plate is attached to the top of the
temperature, speed, applied stress and age of the sample. sample as a connector between the specimen and torque
Different test procedures were compared and corresponding wrench. The torsional stress is imposed on the specimen and
adhesion performance was proposed. Isailovic  and Wistuba the peak torque is used as the parameter to evaluate the bond
(2018) focused on the influence of various loading modes strength between layers (BBA, 1998; Canestrari et al., 2013).
(i.e., monotonic and cyclic direct shear tests) on the The initial torsional bond test was carried out in Sweden as
interface shear resistance. The shear strength obtained from a field device to evaluate the interlayer bond strength. Then
monotonic shear tests can only be an imprecise index of this test method has been widely used in England and was
long-term interface bond property, while the cyclic shear incorporated into the test specification (Walsh and Williams,
test can be used to evaluate the interface fatigue failure 2001). In the guideline of British Board of Agre ment (BBA),
accurately. Ragni et al. (2020) adopted acoustic emissions the maximal shearing torque at a certain temperature is
(AE) to analyze the interlayer fatigue property. The result adopted as the evaluation index (Walsh and Williams, 2001).
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 379

Torsion test can be conducted both in the field or labora-

Similar to the tensile test, this test is limited when the interlayer bonding strength is greater than the
Difficult to generate the pure shear stress at the interface, no consistent conclusion about the use of
tory. The metal plate is utilized as a tool adhering to torque

The test is limited when the interlayer bonding strength is greater than the tensile strength of the
meter. The torque is applied to the metal plate until the
interlayer failure (generally torque is greater than 300 N$m).
Oregon field torque tester (OFTT) can effectively capture the
long-term torsion resistance of asphalt pavements with tack
coat (Mahmoud et al., 2017). By analyzing the correlation
between the results of OFTT and laboratory shear test, the
maximal torque value from OFTT was highly correlated with
the shear strength. The advantages of OFTT are moderate
price, easy to operate and less destructive.

3.4. Summary and discussion

According to the applied load and failure mode, the test

Limitation

equipment for interlayer bonding property is generally sum-

marized as shear, tensile (pull-off), torsion test (Kumar and
Stress concentrations caused by the glued plates

Saride, 2018b; Wang et al., 2017a; Zhang, 2017). The

torsion resistance of the single-layer specimen

comparing between these three tests is shown in Table 1

and Fig. 6 (Partl et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2017a). Furthermore,
they can be classified into destructive and non-destructive
tests (NDT) (Canestrari et al., 2013). The non-destructive
normal stress and shear stress

tests can be carried out on site without destroying the

interlayer. The widely used NDT equipment includes digital
image correlation (DIC), falling weight deflectometer (FWD)
single-layer specimen

and portable seismic pavement analyser (PSPA) (Al Hakim

et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2014; Chun et al., 2015; Li et al.,
2016a; Safavizadeh and Kim, 2017; Saride and Kumar, 2017).
Shear test is currently the most widely used device for
evaluating interlayer bonding property, including both with
and without normal stress. Non-destructive testing suitable
for the field test is one of the future development directions.
only including the application of tensile stress to the double-layer specimen

Among the various non-destructive tests, FWD test is the

Table 1 e The difference between interlayer shear, tensile and torsion test.

most common device utilized in the pavement deflection

testing. The main advantages of FWD are less manpower
requirements and cost, relatively quick testing operation,
more detection points. It is worth noting that FWD has
become a worldwide standard test, which is attributed to
simulate the loading characteristics of moving wheels at
Simple operation, close to on-site interlayer damage

Carrying out on-site or in the laboratory, simple test

close range.
Most characterizations of interface bonding are carried out
by the shear and pull-off tests. Some researchers combine
Advantage

these two kinds of test to analyze the interlayer bonding

property (Canestrari et al., 2013). The interlayer shear test can
provide the basis for pavement design and reflect the
relatively realistic stress distribution of pavement under the
cyclic load. However, a unified evaluation system of
Widely used in the field test

different test equipment has not been established so far.

The device types, test methods, load and specimen sizes of
various studies are quite different, resulting in decreasing
the comparability of various results (Raab et al., 2009;
Rahman et al., 2017; Roffe and Chaignon, 2002). Therefore, it
is necessary to make corresponding standardized
specifications about different test methods and evaluation
indexes, so as to make the characterization of interlayer
bonding strength more operable. Comparing different
Torsion test
Tensile test

interlayer test equipment should utilize the basic

Shear test

parameters such as shear strength or stiffness. The

Type

specimens should be compared at a controlled condition

(Zofka et al., 2015). At the same time, quantification of the
380 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387

Fig. 6 e Three modes of interlayer tests. (a) Shear test. (b) Torsion test. (c) Pull-off test.

variability and precision is also a key issue to be considered for 4.2. Interlayer shear fatigue resistance
different equipment.
In asphalt pavements, fatigue is the attenuation of mechani-
cal property due to cyclic vehicle loading, which leads to
localized structural damage and the propagation of cracking
4. Mechanical characterization
(Kumar and Sireesh, 2018). During the service life of
pavement, the interlayer material is in the state of repeated
4.1. Horizontal sliding failure
cyclic stress or strain (Diakhate  et al., 2011; Kumar and
Saride, 2017). The fatigue failure is caused by the repeated
Interlayer shear strength in asphalt pavements is the ability of
vehicle loading and accumulation of shear damage (Li et al.,
a tack coat material against the yield or structural failure
2014; Romanoschi and Metcalf, 2001; Tozzo et al., 2014;
when the horizontal shear stress is applied (Vinay Kumar
Walubita et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2017b; Yang et al., 2020).
et al., 2017). The shear load is a force that tends to cause a
The interlayer fatigue failure is usually caused by poor
horizontal sliding failure on a material along a plane. The
construction practices and improper tack coat application
interlayer shear strength is influenced by the material
rates. The acoustic emission method was proposed by Ragni
property of tack coat and the structural property of the
et al. (2020) to analyze the interlayer shear fatigue property.
different asphalt layers. The properties of the tack coat
The rapid change of AE data began when the complex
material mainly depend on the viscosity and dosage (Chen
modulus decreased about 70%. By analyzing the data of
and Huang, 2010; Woods, 2004). The structure property of
mechanical and AE test, it can be concluded that traditional
the asphalt mixture mainly depends on the surface texture,
fatigue failure criterion (Nf50) is not entirely accurate to
mixture types, interaction between the aggregate and
evaluate the interlayer fatigue damage resistance. Therefore,
binder, and the compactness (Chen and Huang, 2010;
a more rigorous fatigue criterion should be proposed for the
Jaskuła, 2014; West et al., 2005).
asphalt interlayer.
Pasetto et al. (2019) studied the interlayer shear strength of
Li et al. (2014) developed a test instrument considering both
double-layered asphalt structure modified by different
horizontal and vertical stresses. The results showed that
composite membranes. Cyclic bending and single shear
under the action of repeated stress (strain), the shear fatigue
bond test were carried out for different kinds of composite
property is worse if the interlayer located at the transverse
membranes. The interlayer shear strength was higher at
joint of rigid base. They suggested to select the asphalt
unreinforced condition, while adding composite
mixture with lower thermal shrinkage, low modulus and
reinforcement between layers reduced the interlayer shear
high tensile strength to ensure better fatigue resistance of
resistance significantly. The decrease of the interlayer shear
interlayer. The fatigue property of multi-layer asphalt
strength caused the reduction of corresponding stiffness.
concrete (AC) was studied (Diakhate  et al., 2011). The double
The usage of composite membranes led to the obvious
shear test device was used to evaluate the fatigue
enhancement of fatigue resistance. Raab et al. (2016)
performance under two interlayer conditions and
analyzed the interlayer shear strength by the layer parallel
temperatures. An interlayer lifetime model was proposed to
direct shear tester (LPDS). By studying the shear strength,
evaluate the fatigue life. It was suggested that the interface
the influence of various grids on the interlayer bonding
fatigue performance should be taken into account in the
property was obtained. Song et al. (2018) evaluated the
pavement design system. Song et al. (2016) conducted the
interlayer shear strength of different asphalt layer types by
shear fatigue analysis of OGFC and underlying layer. Fifty
the direct shear test. The increase of normal stress resulted
percentage reductions of modulus and plateau value of
in the increase of shear strength between different kinds of
dissipated energy were selected as the fatigue failure
asphalt layers. The horizontal shear properties under
criteria. The plateau value and contact area had a significant
different normal stress were in accordance with Coulomb
influence on interlayer fatigue damage resistance. Yang
law. The shear strength of OGFC-D was smaller than that of
et al. (2020) proposed a shear fatigue model based on
OGFC-BM under the optimum dosage, which is attributed to
interlayer shear resistance and interface stiffness of five
the different contact area and roughness of the interlayer.
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 381

interlayer types. An evaluation approach was put forth by the The horizontal shear resistance is a major concern of the
relationship between axle-load conversion and interlayer pavement interlayer property. It is controversial which pro-
shear fatigue resistance. posed parameters can more accurately reflect the adhesion
between layers. The mechanical mechanism of poor bonding
property needs to be further studied. The interlayer test
4.3. Interlayer cracking resistance
scheme of most researches was put forward based on self-
made equipment according to their own preference. Under
Reflection cracking and slippage cracking are the common
different test scenarios, the mechanical characterization is
diseases caused by poor interlayer bonding property, which
different, and the influence of various factors on the interlayer
reduces the service life of the asphalt pavement (Saride and
mechanical property is also various.
Kumar, 2019). Slippage cracking is crescent-shaped crack
caused by the low-strength surface asphalt mixture or a
poor bond between pavement layers. The cracking occurs
5. Influence factors of interlayer bonding
due to the forces applied by braking or turning wheels of
property
vehicles. Reflective cracking is the crack that forms over
joints or in an overlay of a deteriorated asphalt pavement.
5.1. Tack coat property
Reflective cracks are generally caused by changes in thermal
and moisture, rather than load initiated. However, vehicle
The tack coat is generally used to improve the adhesion be-
loading will accelerate crack deterioration.
tween different asphalt layers, which is mostly made from
Shafabakhsh and Ahmadi (2019) studied the influence of
asphalt emulsion or a small carbohydrate particle formed in
rubber modified asphalt mixture on interlayer cracking
aqueous solution (Raposeiras et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2017a).
resistance. The crack growth of multi-layer specimens was
analyzed under dynamic cyclic load. The results showed
5.1.1. Tack coat rate
that the modification of tack coat was more effective than
Ample researches have been conducted on the influence of
the AC overlay modification in the aspect of cracking
tack coat rate on the bonding property. Al-Qadi et al. (2009)
resistance. The reflection cracking can be reduced
investigated three residual application rates, two types of
significantly by modifying the material of tack coat or
mixture and twenty-five road test sections. The optimum
overlayer.
tack coat rate was obtained by the accelerated pavement
Kumar and Saride (2018a) used direct tensile strength test
testing (APT). Chen and Huang (2010) found that the shear
(DTT) to evaluate the resistance to reflection cracking. The
strength increased to a certain maximum value with the
double-layer specimen was tested at three different
increase of residual application amount, and then the
temperatures and the energy dissipation of cracking was
strength decreases gradually. Song et al. (2015) measured the
evaluated. The geosynthetic interlayer used in this study
shear strength at four tack coat rates (0, 0.15, 0.3, and 0.5 l/
effectively improved the cracking resistance. The tensile
m2), three test temperatures, three underlying materials.
stiffness of the sample was enhanced and the fracture
Low interfacial roughness even made the tack coat losing
energy was increased by adding the composite material. The
the interface bonding at 25  C. The greater amount of tack
influence of geosynthetic interlayer on reflective cracking
coat led to the poor shear strength. In addition, the two-
and fatigue performance was also studied by bending fatigue
dimensional finite element modeling was constructed to
and tensile bond strength tests (Saride and Kumar, 2017).
evaluate the interface constitutive behavior in combination
The results showed that the interlayer material improved
with the results in the laboratory (Mohammad et al., 2011).
the performance of anti-reflection cracking. The fatigue life
The authors obtained the conclusion that types and
was increased, but the overlays were prone to debonding.
application amount of tack coat had a greater impact on
thin pavement and less influence on thick pavement.
4.4. Summary and discussion As discussed previously, premature interlayer damage is
caused by unreasonable tack coat application. In general,
The different test methods discussed in section 3 can obtain there is no consistent conclusion about the existence of op-
the interlayer mechanical parameters and their reliability. It timum application rate. Divergent views were proposed about
is worth noting that interpretations of the relationship whether the application rate can observably affect the inter-
between laboratory data and actual pavement performance layer bonding strength. The composite pavement structure
are still uncertain. During the recent years, the research without the tack coat showed the highest average shear
hotspot tends to focus on interlayer materials evaluation, strength, while the lowest average shear strength was
interface mechanical and tire-pavement response (Zofka observed when tack coat was applied at the interface (Collop
et al., 2015). For the asphalt mixture with the viscoelastic or et al., 2009). Surfacing/binder course structure types and
viscoplasticity property, the physical and mechanical mixture graduation may lead to the different conclusion.
properties are influenced by the temperature and loading Similar conclusions have been obtained by Mohammad et al.
cycles (Canestrari et al., 2013; Pei et al., 2016b; Xing et al., (2002a), Biglari et al. (2018), Wang and Zhong (2019). In most
2019). The increase of loading cycles has the similar effect to cases, increasing the tack coat rate usually resulted in a
the increase of temperature and the decrease of modulus. decrease of interfacial bonding strength at low temperature,
The disconnection between theory and practice in some while the interfacial shear strength was not significantly
laboratory experiments is a severe problem. affected at relatively higher temperature.
382 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387

5.1.2. Tack coat type 5.2.2. Surface texture

The tack coat type is associated with the interlayer bonding The interface texture and roughness would be affected by the
property. Some studies have shown that the interlayer adhe- type of asphalt mixture (Zhang et al., 2019). The interlayer
sion of the modified asphalt emulsion is notably improved bonding property is better in the case of lower layers with
compared with the unmodified emulsion and no tack coat higher surface roughness (Raposeiras et al., 2013). In this
(Canestrari et al., 2005; Mohammad et al., 2005; Struthers and experiment, different surface macro-texture can be
Richardson, 2002). Covey et al. (2017) estimated six types of simulated under different tack coat rates. Therefore, it is
cationic emulsions CSS-1H to evaluate the rheological important to associate the surface texture with tack coat
performance. Six types of tack coat were chosen in this test, rate and the type of asphalt mixture. Chen and Huang (2010)
including three tack coats spraying on the overlayer surface used three kinds of double-layered asphalt mixture
and the other three spraying on the milled surface. The specimens. The traditional test methods of mean texture
correlations with interface shear strength were also depth and film thickness were selected to determine the
analyzed. Higher viscosity of the six tack coats meant higher interface bonding property. The increase of two evaluation
softening point temperature and lower penetration value. parameters resulted in the decrease of peak shear strength
The results showed that there was a positive correlation and shear modulus. At the same time, the bonding strength
between the rheological performance and the interface at high temperature had more influence on the surface
shear strength. Ghabchi et al. (2018) chose six types of tack texture. Surface property played a key role in interlayer
coat used by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. bonding. Covey et al. (2017) adopted the sand patch test to
The practicability of different tack coat was evaluated for six measure the pavement surface texture. The machine was
pavement types and different frequencies, pavement easy to operate in the construction site, and the results were
conditions, moisture and temperature. According to the highly related to that of the laser texture scanner. The
research results, the database was proposed for the influence of pavement surface texture on interface shear
selection of different tack coat types. strength was analyzed, and the correlation of these two
parameters was studied. The results showed that there was
5.1.3. Curing time a positive correlation between texture and interface shear
Curing time means the time after sprinkling the tack coat on strength. As mentioned before, Song et al. (2017) evaluated
the existing asphalt layer and before the construction of a new the surface roughness between OGFC and underlying layers
layer. This parameter is generally used to indicate that the at several tack coat rates. The interlayer contact area and
emulsion is completely broken (Chen and Huang, 2010; Zhang, porosity played a key role in the interface bonding strength.
2017). The curing time has a great influence on the interlayer In this work, higher texture depth led to the increase of peak
bonding property if the existing asphalt layer is dirty. Chen bonding strength and stiffness.
and Huang (2010) evaluated the effect of curing time and
tack coat types on the bonding strength. Different curing 5.2.3. Surface cleanness
time had little effect on the bonding property. With the The interlayer pollution is a non-negligible factor affecting the
increase of curing time, the shear strength increased slightly bonding strength. The existence of dust or oil at the top of the
and remained stable after reaching a certain value. Raab and underlying layer can lead to poor bond property. Hristov (2018)
Partl (2014) found the curing time had a positive effect on evaluated three types of interlayer pollution (clean, medium
the bonding property between layers. After curing in the and high contamination). The research showed that the
designated steps (from moderate to high temperature), the medium contamination did not have obviously negative
interlayer bonding strength was increased as expected. effect on interlayer bonding. But the highly polluted
condition would have a certain negative impact on
premature interlayer failure, which must be avoided in the
5.2. Surface condition field. Three kinds of surface and two kinds of cleaning
methods (broom and air blast) were adopted (Salinas et al.,
5.2.1. Interface moisture 2013). It was found that air blast method can effectively
Moisture susceptibility is a primary cause of pavement dam- improve the interfacial adhesion.
age, such as stripping, potholes, and so forth. The pavement
interlayer can be considered susceptible to water when the
binder-to-aggregate adhesion weakens due to the existence of 5.3. Other factors
moisture. The moisture also caused premature failure of
interlayer. In contrast to the dry conditions, moisture in the 5.3.1. Temperature
pavement structure reduced interlayer cracking-resistance The construction temperature is another influence factor
(Canestrari et al., 2013). The interlayer characteristics of leading to interlayer failure. There have been a great number
different pavement types were studied and the effect of of studies on the effect of temperature on tack coat property.
moisture on the bonding property was found (Raab and Some publications claim that interlayer bonding property
Partl, 2004b; Raab, 2011). Moisture had a negative effect on would be decreased at higher temperature (Miro  Recasens
interlayer shear bonding, resulting in a reduction in shear et al., 2003; Sholar et al., 2004; Uzan et al., 1978; West et al.,
stress and stiffness. The maximum reduction of shear stress 2005). Meanwhile, the temperature difference between
and stiffness can reach up to more than 30% under the wearing and binder course should be paid attention during
condition of 5% air void ratio with 5 h water treatment. the process of construction (Canestrari et al., 2013). It would
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 383

increase the risk of interlayer slippage. The relationship conditions tend to play an important role in increasing the
between temperature and shear strength is summarized in risk of pavement damage caused by bond failure.
Fig. 7 (Al-Qadi et al., 2012; Canestrari and Santagata, 2005;
Recasens et al., 2006; Yao et al., 2016).
6. Conclusion and discussion
5.3.2. Asphalt aging
At present, there is still no consistent conclusion about how It has been more than forty years since the systematic
the asphalt binder aging affects interlayer bonding property research on the interlayer bonding property. The reasonable
(Wang et al., 2019). Rolling thin film oven (RTFO) was used to characterization of interlayer bonding property is essential
simulate the aging process, and the high temperature due to the continuous increase of traffic load. This review
characteristics, viscosity and dynamic mechanical tests focuses on the characterization of interlayer bonding prop-
were carried out subsequently (Li et al., 2016b). Pressure erty, including the experimental characterization, mechanical
aging vessel (PAV) was utilized to simulate the long-term characterization and influence factor.
aging procedure for tack coat fatigue test. The results At present, the shear test is the most commonly used
showed that rubber asphalt and SBS modified asphalt binder method to estimate the bonding strength. The interlayer shear
can be selected as good interlayer materials. Vasconcelos test can better simulate the realistic interlayer failure, and the
et al. (2017) evaluated the rheological properties of two operation is simple. Other types of testing equipment are
polymer modified asphalt binders. The polymer modified developed according to different purposes and loading modes.
binders were extracted and recovered from strain release It is the future trend to develop non-destructive testing to
asphalt mixture. The specimens were tested under the evaluate the interlayer bonding performance. Most NDT
conditions of RTFOT and unaged, so as to understand the methods are based on the principle of propagating waves with
influence of modification on reducing the oxidation aging. a frequency exceeding 20 Hz into the asphalt pavement. This
Other factors that cause premature interlayer damage are test is carried out on site under the condition of non-
insufficient compaction, overloading, improper curing time damaging. FWD test is the most common device utilized in the
and application condition (Canestrari et al., 2005; Pei et al., pavement deflection testing. The future work of FWD test
2016a; Wang et al., 2017a). The mixture designs of layers mainly focuses on improving the repeatability of test results.
(e.g., mixture gradation and air void) also have significant The precision in the process of evaluating stiff pavement
impacts on overall pavement performance. In summary, the structures is also a major concern.
premature interlayer failure is the result of aforementioned Obviously, the limitations of each test exist, which may
comprehensive factors. The mechanism of debonding or have a negative impact on the evaluation of interlayer bond.
interlayer slippage is not completely understood, but the In most cases, a certain device can only consider the load in a
premature damage can be reduced by avoiding the above single direction, and cannot accurately simulate the bearing
adverse factors. The mechanism of interlayer bond failure in capacity of pavement interlayer. Some of the test methods are
the laboratory or on-site is not fully understood, but some manually operated, resulting in unreliable results and poor
influencing factors can be determined. Worse application reproducibility. Combining several different tests might be an
ideal scenario to alleviate this problem.
The interlayer bonding property is influenced by various
factors including the material property, construction condi-
tion, specimen types and so forth. The effect of different fac-
tors on the interlayer bonding property is more complex in the
field than in the laboratory. The tack coat rate has been
extensively studied. But there is no consistent conclusion
about if the optimum tack coat rate exists under a certain
application condition. The optimum tack coat rate should
meet the requirements of both better performance and lower
cost. Some studies have shown that the optimum perfor-
mance can be obtained without tack coat. Meanwhile, the
bonding property between layers may not be significantly
affected by the curing time. The various influence factors and
test equipment are key issues in the standardized evaluation
of interlayer bond.
In order to ensure the bonding strength and improve the
service life, it is recommended to select the appropriate tack
coat application rate, and under the conditions of clean, dry,
sufficient friction and good compaction. Meanwhile, it is
necessary to make corresponding specifications of the test
methods and evaluation parameters, so as to make the char-
acterization of bonding strength more feasible in the future
work. The standardized test method or specification should be
Fig. 7 e Interlayer shear strength versus temperature. multi-functional, which can be easily implementable within
384 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387

the current framework. Moreover, the standard device for Bae, A., Mohammad, L.N., Elseifi, M.A., et al., 2010. Effects of
interlayer property evaluation should be used anytime or temperature on interface shear strength of emulsified tack
anywhere in the lab. The test specimen should be simple to coats and its relationship to rheological properties.
Transportation Research Record 2180, 102e109.
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BBA, 1998. Guideline Document for the Assessment and
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This study was supported by Special Fund for Basic Scientific shear behaviour of tack coat emulsions used in flexible
Research of Central College of Chang’an University (No. pavements. International Journal of Pavement Engineering 6
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 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2021; 8 (3): 374e387 387

Xu, D., Feng, X., Cui, Y., 2012. A simple shear strength model for Kai Yang has been a PhD candidate in School
interlayer shear weakness zone. Engineering Geology of Highway, Chang'an University since 2018,
147e148, 114e123. and a visiting scholar/jointly training PhD
Yang, K., Li, R., Yu, Y., et al., 2020. Evaluation of interlayer stability candidate in Department of Civil, Construc-
in asphalt pavements based on shear fatigue property. tion, and Environmental Engineering, at
Construction and Building Materials 258, 119628. North Carolina State University Since 2019
Yao, B., Li, F., Wang, X., et al., 2016. Evaluation of the shear September. He has won the first class award
characteristics of steeleasphalt interface by a direct shear of Chang'an University of 2018e2019. Kai
test method. International Journal of Adhesion and Yang's research direction is asphalt pave-
Adhesives 68, 70e79. ment material and fatigue research of
Yukio, U., Kazuo, I., Tetsuya, Y., et al., 1983. Characteristics of asphalt binder.
brittle fracture under general combined modes including
those under bi-axial tensile loads. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics 18 (6), 1131e1158. Rui Li is a professor in School of Highway,
Zhang, S., Li, R., Pei, J., 2019. Evaluation methods and indexes Chang'an University. She has been an asso-
of morphological characteristics of coarse aggregates for ciate professor in School of Highway,
road materials: a comprehensive review. Journal of Traffic Chang'an University from 2012 to 2017, and
and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) 6 (3), an assistant professor in School of Highway,
256e272. Chang'an University from 2010 to 2012. She
Zhang, W., 2017. Effect of tack coat application on interlayer has been a visiting scholar in Singapore,
shear strength of asphalt pavement: a state-of-the-art Nanyang Technological University from
review based on application in the United States. 2016 to 2017. She has won National Natural
International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology Science Foundation Communications Re-
10 (5), 434e445. view Expert, Guangdong Provincial Natural
Zofka, A., Maliszewski, M., Bernier, A., et al., 2015. Advanced Science Foundation Review Expert and Young Science and Tech-
shear tester for evaluation of asphalt concrete under nology Talents of the Ministry of Transport. Rui Li's research di-
constant normal stiffness conditions. Road Materials and rection is environmentally friendly self-generating asphalt
Pavement Design 16 (S1), 187e210. pavement.