Effects of high modulus asphalt binders on performance of typical asphalt pavement structures

Several factors related to the performance of high modulus asphalt binders (HMABs) in pavement engineering were studied: stiffness, elastic recovery, asphalt layer thickness reduction, workability and thermal cracking resistance. Results showed that HMABs had higher stiffness and elasticity than neat binder. The asphalt layers thickness could be significantly reduced by replacing neat binder with HMABs. The coarse aggregate absorption method provided reasonable means to estimate mixing temperature for HMABs. The application of HMABs where the low design temperature of the pavement is lower than −16 °C should be with caution based on the low temperature performance grades of HMABs.