ABSTRACT
In this paper crumb rubber modified asphalt (CRMA) is investigated, and the appropriate crumb rubber powder content of CRMA is determined. The high temperature performance, the low temperature performance and the fatigue resistance of CRMA were compared with that of the base asphalt and SBS modified asphalt. Furthermore, the microstructure of CRMA is characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), component analysis, differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The results show that the performance of CRMA is best at a crumb rubber powder content of more than 18% by weight, powder particle size of 20, mixing temperature 180–200°C and 45 min of mixing time. The high and low temperature performance of CRMA is better than that of the base asphalt and SBS modified asphalt. It is indicated that the phase morphology with the crumb rubber powder being the disperse phase and the asphalt the continuous phase was formed obviously. Moreover, complex chemical reactions did not happen in the system.
