STRESS-SWEEP TEST TO EVALUATE MODIFIED ASPHALT BINDER WITH ELASTOMER AND PLASTOMER POLYMERS

Fatigue cracking is one of the major distress in asphalt pavement mixtures. It is usually initiated and propagated at intermediate to low temperature. Asphalt binder modification is considered one of the best solutions to improve the mixture performance. Elastomer and plastomer types of polymers are used in this research to modify the local Iraqi binder and make it more resistant to fatigue. The modifiers (SBS, PE, and PPA) are blended in different contents with the binder to allow good understanding on the optimum selection. It is believed, based on the results of this research, that the addition of 4% SBS influences the performance of the mixture better than the other modifiers. It is found that the addition of 4% SBS to the binder reduces the dissipated energy by 55% and the PE by 45% when reducing the stress level from 200 to 150 kPa. The aim of this research is to evaluate the fatigue characteristics of the Iraqi modified binder.