This study investigates the characterization and mechanical performance of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixtures modified with two types of polymers: styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) and high-molecular-weight polyethylene (PE). Neat asphalt cement PG 64-16 was modified using a higher content of SBS and PE at concentrations of 6%, 7%, and 8% by weight of asphalt through the dry blending method to produce Highly Modified Asphalts (HiMA). The physical and rheological properties of the modified binders were evaluated using penetration, softening point, rotational viscosity, and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests. Also, their phase compatibility and morphological changes were evaluated using the storage stability testing and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The mechanical performance of the corresponding SMA mixtures was assessed through Marshall stability and flow, moisture susceptibility, crack tolerance index (CT-index), resilient modulus, and rutting resistance tests. Also, a mechanistic durability analysis was conducted using the KENLAYER software. Results indicated that both polymers enhanced the binder’s stiffness and high-temperature performance, with SBS exhibiting greater overall improvements. SBS-modified binders displayed a relatively low softening point difference (ΔT) of 5.1 °C to 5.8 °C, indicating good thermal stability and uniform polymer dispersion. In contrast, PE-modified binders exhibited significantly higher ΔT values, reaching 13.5 °C with 8% PE content, indicating a greater tendency toward phase separation. Moreover, Marshall stability improved substantially, increasing by 43% for 8% SBS-modified mixes and 28% for 8% PE-modified mixes compared to the neat SMA mix. Flow number (FN) results indicated enhanced rutting resistance, with FN values increasing by 2.45 times for SBS mixes and 2.1 times for PE mixes at 8% polymer content. Additionally, moisture susceptibility was significantly improved, as evidenced by the tensile strength ratio (TSR) values of 97% with 8% SBS and 92% with 8% PE, compared to 81% for the neat mix. Resilient modules increased notably, with a 38% rise for 8% SBS mixes and a 24% rise for 8% PE mixes, reflecting enhanced stiffness and load-bearing capacity. Also, the CT-index significantly improved, reaching values of 154 for the 8% SBS mix and 127 for the 8% PE-modified mix, compared to 86 for the neat mix, indicating enhanced resistance to cracking. Finally, both polymer-modified mixes demonstrated improved durability, where the 8% SBS mix exhibited the longest design life (21.66 years) and the highest number of allowable load repetitions (5.42 × 106), followed by 8% PE (13.98 years and 3.50 × 106 repetitions).
Due to economic reasons or need for environmental conservatism or also preserve the natural resources; there has been an increasing shift towards the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials in the pavement construction industry. Therefore, use the Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) has been enormously increased in pavement construction and has been become common practice in many countries. Nevertheless, this is a relatively new concept in Iraq, and has to be remarked that is not used RAP in the production of HMA and this valuable material is mostly degraded. For this purpose, the reclaimed materials were collected from deteriorated pavement segments. The components of asphalt mixtures consist of: two asphalt penetration grades (40-5
... Show MoreThis research utilized natural asphalt (NA) deposits from sulfur springs in western Iraq. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of an asphalt mixture incorporating NA and verify its suitability for local pavement applications. To achieve this, a combination of two types of NA, namely soft SNA and hard HNA, was blended to create a binder known as Type HSNA. The resulting HSNA exhibited a penetration grade that adhered to Iraqi specifications. Various percentages of NA (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) were added to petroleum asphalt. The findings revealed enhanced physical properties of HSNA, which also satisfied the requirements outlined in the Iraqi specifications for asphalt cement.
Consequently, HS
... Show MoreBackground: Incorporation of chemical additives has long been a technique used to improve properties of the gypsum products. The purpose of this work was to study the effects of adding a combination of gum Arabic and calcium hydroxide to a type III dental stone and type IV improved die stone with different proportion. The effect on water/powder ratio, and surface hardness was determined. Material and method: Both material stone and die stone were blended with two proportion of additives so that each material was mixed twice but with different proportion of gum Arabic (0.1% and 0.2%) and calcium hydroxide (0.5 % and 0.3%). Data for hardness were subjected to two-way analysis of variance. Results: The results revealed that the chemical additi
... Show MoreBackground: Dental calculus is mineralized dental plaque formed on teeth and dental prosthesis surfaces in the oral cavity. Urinary stone is a crystal aggregation formed in urinary system due to minerals saturation present in urine. The structure of dental calculus is similar to that of urinary stone. Objective: To assess oral hygiene and gingival status in patients with urinary stone. And compared with healthy subjects. Patients and Methods: Sixty participants, 25-40 years, were involved in this study who were divided into study and control group. The study group involved patients with urinary stone while the control group involved healthy subjects. Clinical parameters including plaque, calculus and gingival indices were recorded for al
... Show MoreIn this study, condensation polymerization was used to synthesize a number of novel liquid crystal polymers with 1,3,4-oxadiazole rings based on melamine. The new synthesized polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarization microscopy (OPM) were used to investigate their liquid crystalline properties. The results demonstrated that throughout a wide temperature range, most of the polymers exhibited columnar (CohX) and nematic (N) liquid crystalline phases.
Metronidazole-MIPs were prepared by using (MDZ) as the template as well as allylchloride (AYC) or allylbromide (AYB) as monomer, used (TMPTA) tri-methylol propane tri-acrylate or ethylene glycol di-methyl acrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker and initiator used (BP) benzyl peroxide. By using different plasticizers (di butyl Phthalate (DBPH), Nitrobenzene (NB), oleic acid (OA) and paraffin) for MDZ-MIP1 and (Di-butyl sebecate (DBS), Di-methyl acrylate (DMA), Tributylphosphate(TBP) and Tris(ethylhexyl phosphate (TEHP) ) for MDZ-MIP2. Membranes of MIPs were prepared in PVC matrix. The characterizations of each electrode were determined The Slope range from (55.083 - 43.711) mV/decade, Limit of Detection (8 X 10 -4- 2 X 10-6) and Linearity
... Show MoreThis research utilized natural asphalt (NA) deposits from sulfur springs in western Iraq. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of an asphalt mixture incorporating NA and verify its suitability for local pavement applications. To achieve this, a combination of two types of NA, namely soft SNA and hard HNA, was blended to create a binder known as Type HSNA. The resulting HSNA exhibited a penetration grade that adhered to Iraqi specifications. Various percentages of NA (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) were added to petroleum asphalt. The findings revealed enhanced physical properties of HSNA, which also satisfied the requirements outlined in the Iraqi specifications for asphalt cement. Consequently, HSNA can serve as an
... Show MoreAging of asphalt pavements typically occurs through oxidation of the asphalt and evaporation of the lighter maltenes from the binder. The main objective of this study is to evaluate influence of aging on performance of asphalt paving materials.nAsphalt concrete mixtures, were prepared, and subjected to short term aging (STA) procedure which involved heating the loose mixtures in an oven for two aging period of (4 and 8) hours at a temperature of 135 o C. Then it was subject to Long term aging (LTA) procedure using (2 and 5) days aging periods at 85 o C for Marshall compacted specimens. The effect of aging periods on properties of asphalt concrete at optimum asphalt content such as Marshall Properties, indirect tensile strength at 25 o C,
... Show MoreIonic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been found to be highly effective as electrolytes in TiO2 NTAs-graphite cells when combined with additives that enhance conductivity by reducing the viscosity of these liquids. The presence of CaCl2.6H2O: Acetamide DES with DI water as an additive resulted in a cell voltage of 1.31V and an internal resistance of 19 ohm. This can be attributed to the concentration and quality of the ionic species. The cells exhibited an interesting response to the AlCl3-chloroacetamide IL with dichloromethane DCM as an additive, with a cell voltage of 1.81V and an internal resistance of 5.0 ohm. Once again, this is influenced by the quality and concentration of the ionic species. Furthermore,
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