The characterisation of foamed asphalt cement using a rotational viscometer

Warm mix asphalt using foaming technology is a widely used alternative to traditional Hot Mix Asphalt in the USA. However, there has been relatively limited research exploring the behaviour of the foamed asphalt cement, especially using traditional asphalt cement testing equipment. This research used the rotational viscometer to develop four new metrics that quantify the behaviour of foamed asphalt cement. These four metrics showed that increasing the foaming temperature increased the observed viscosity, but the initial observed viscosity decreased with lower asphalt binder grades. However, the point at which the observed viscosity crossed the actual viscosity increased with lower asphalt binder grades. Overall, the Wirtgen foamer had higher observed viscosity vs. the PTI foamer and provided a more robust foaming material. However, it is recommended that the AccuFoamer also be explored in future research, along with comparing laboratory produced foamed asphalt cement with field produced foamed asphalt cement.     

SiC-particulate aluminum composite foams produced from powder compacts: foaming and compression behavior

The foaming behavior of SiC-particulate (SiC_p) aluminum composite powder compacts containing titanium hydride blowing agent was investigated by heating to 750°C in a pre-heated furnace. Aluminum powder compacts were also prepared and foamed using similar compaction and foaming parameters in order to determine the effect of SiC_p-addition on the foaming and compression behavior. The SiC_p-addition (10 wt%) was found to increase the linear expansion of the Al powder compacts presumably by increasing the surface as well as the bulk viscosities. The compression tests conducted on Al and 10 and 20% SiC_p foams further showed a more brittle compression behavior of SiC_p/Al foams as compared with Al foams. The collapse stresses of Al and 10% SiC_p/Al foams were also predicted using the equations developed for the open and closed cell foams. Predictions have shown that Al foam samples behaved similar to open cell foams, while 10% SiC_p/Al foam collapse stress values were found between those of open and closed cell foams, biasing towards those of the open cell foams.     

双马来酰亚胺泡沫的微观形貌与结构控制研究

以偶氮二甲酰胺(AC)为发泡剂制备了改性双马来酰亚胺(BMI)泡沫,用扫描电镜(SEM)对泡沫的微观形貌进行观察,研究泡沫的发泡过程及不同条件下泡沫的泡孔结构,包括密度、孔径、单位体积的泡孔数目、发泡倍率等。结果表明:改性的BMI泡沫是一种闭孔结构泡沫,其构型为排泄型十二面体。可通过发泡体系的黏度、温度和发泡剂含量控制BMI泡沫的结构,随发泡体系黏度的增加,泡沫密度,成核密度N0和单位体积的泡孔数目Nf增加,泡孔直径减小,均匀性变好。泡沫密度随发泡剂AC含量提高而降低,当AC含量超过7%(质量分数)时,泡沫密度反而上升。随发泡温度提高,泡沫密度降低,孔径增大,泡沫成型稳定性变差。     

Evaluation of the performance of warm mix asphalt in Washington state

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) is a relatively new and emerging technology for the asphalt industry. It offers potential construction and environmental advantages over traditional hot mix asphalt (HMA). However, WMA must perform at least as well as HMA before it can be used extensively. This study evaluates the performance of WMA mixtures and their corresponding HMA control mixtures obtained from various field sites in the state of Washington. Four WMA technologies are examined, including Sasobit^® and three water-foaming technologies, Gencor^®, Aquablack? and ALmix Water Injection. Performance tests are conducted on the field cores to evaluate and compare the rutting, moisture susceptibility, fatigue and thermal resistance of WMA and HMA, respectively. Also, the extracted binders from the field cores are evaluated. In addition, the early-age field performance of WMA and HMA control pavements are compared.     

Prediction models of mixtures’ dynamic modulus using gene expression programming

The dynamic modulus (E*) among asphalt mixtures’ mechanical property parameters not only is important for asphalt mixtures’ pavement design but also in determining asphalt mixtures’ pavement performance associated with pavement response. Based on the principle of gene expression programming (GEP) algorithm, this paper explored two different GEP approach models, namely: GEP-I and GEP-II to predict the E* of hot mix asphalt (HMA) and mixtures containing recycled asphalt shingles, respectively. In this paper, The GEP-I was developed from a large database containing 2750 test data points from 205 unaged laboratory-blended HMA mixtures including 34 modified binders, and the GEP-II model was developed using the E* database containing 1701 sets of experimental data from 4 different demonstration projects. Both the GEP-I model and GEP-II model were compared with other E* prediction models. A sensitivity analysis of each model parameter was conducted by correlating these parameters with dynamic modulus. Both the GEP-I model and GEP-II model showed significantly higher prediction accuracy compared with the existing regression models and could easily be established. It is expected that these two GEP models could lead to more accurate characterisation of the asphalt mixtures’ E*, resulting in better performance prediction.     

Effects of aluminium powder content and cold rolling on foaming behaviour of xAlp/Al5Si4Cu4Mg/0.8TiH2 composites

Abstract

Aluminium foams were produced by applying powder metallurgy technology. The process began by making aluminium powder and mixing it with alloy powder (Al5Si4Cu4Mg) and foaming agent (TiH₂). The mix was compacted to the form of a billet by cold pressing and then it was hot extruded to a dense foamable strip, which was cold rolled to give 40% thickness reduction. The resulting precursor composites of both the extruded strip and the extruded plus rolled strip were then freely foamed without a mould at a constant temperature of 700°C for different foaming times. The effects of aluminium powder content and cold rolling on the foaming characteristics of the foamable composite strip were studied. It is noted that aluminium powder fibre in the extruded composite strip acts as a barrier to pore initiation and evolution due to the higher melting point of pure aluminium fibre than that of the alloy matrix. Cold rolling promotes foaming of the composite strip due to the TiH₂ cracking and debonding between TiH₂ particles and metal matrix. The morphological and microstructural evolution of composite foams was also investigated. The foaming mechanism can be described by the following sequence: cracklike pore nucleation between elongated powder fibres; ellipsoidal, spherical, and polygonal pore growth; and the collapse of pores as a result of coalescence.     

Effect of nano-Calcium Carbonate on microcellular foaming of polypropylene

Using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical foaming agent, a new batch process was carried out to prepare microcellular polypropylene (PP) and polypropylene/nano-Calcium Carbonate (PP/nano-CaCO₃) foams. Four concentrations of nano-CaCO₃, 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt% were used. The cell structure of foams and advantages of this new process were investigated and explained by thermal properties. Results showed that the foamed PP/5 wt% nano-CaCO₃ produced a microcellular foam with the minimum mean cell diameter (9.55 μm) and maximum cell density (1.50 × 10⁹ cells/cm³) among the four blends. Some unfoamed regions were observed in nanocomposite foams because nano-CaCO₃ could accelerate crystallization in cooling and cryostat stage. The new process took much less time (2.5 h) to foam and had much broader foaming temperature range (about 55 °C). But the foaming temperature range decreased after blending nano-CaCO₃ into PP matrix because nano-CaCO₃-induced isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization at higher temperature. In addition, the cell growth effect on variations of volume expansion ratio in PP/nano-CaCO₃ nanocomposites could be neglected comparing with the heterogeneous cell nucleation effect.     

SiC-particulate aluminum composite foams produced by powder compacts: Foaming and compression behavior

The foaming behavior of SiC-particulate (8.6% by volume) aluminum composite powder compacts contained Titanium Hydride blowing agent was investigated by heating above the melting temperature (750°C) in a pre-heated furnace. Aluminum powder compacts were also prepared and foamed using similar compaction and foaming parameters in order to determine the effect of SiC-particulate addition on foaming and compression behavior. The linear expansions of the compacts at various furnace holding times were ex situ determined. Optical and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to characterize prepared and deformed foams microstructures. The SiC-particulate addition was found to increase the linear expansion and reduce the extent of the liquid metal drainage and cell coarsening of the aluminum compacts. The composite foam samples also showed higher compressive stresses, but a more brittle behavior as compared with aluminum foams.     

An overview of the emerging warm mix asphalt technology

The asphalt industry is constantly attempting to reduce its emissions as concerns are growing on global warming. This is done by decreasing the mixing and compaction temperatures of asphalt mixtures without affecting the properties of the mix which is possible through numerous available technologies in the industry. The production of asphalt mix is done by warm mix asphalt (WMA) technology at considerably lower temperatures (120°C or lower). Less energy consumption, lower mixing and compaction temperatures, early site opening, reduced ageing, fewer emissions, cool weather paving, better workability and, finally, an extended paving window could be mentioned as some of the benefits obtained by using the WMA. This paper presents the WMA techniques and technologies such as foaming techniques, wax and chemical additives techniques. Additionally, the performance of WMA popular technologies such as Sasobit^®, WAM^®-Foam, Evotherm^®, Low energy asphalt, Rediset^® WMX and REVIX? are fully described.     

Comparison of a low molecular weight and a macromolecular surfactant as foaming agents for injectable self setting hydroxyapatite foams: Polysorbate 80 versus gelatine

Hydroxyapatite foams are potential synthetic bone grafting materials or scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. A novel method to obtain injectable hydroxyapatite foams consists in foaming the liquid phase of a calcium phosphate cement. In this process, the cement powder is incorporated into a liquid foam, which acts as a template for macroporosity. After setting, the cement hardens maintaining the macroporous structure of the foam. In this study a low molecular weight surfactant, Polysorbate 80, and a protein, gelatine, were compared as foaming agents of a calcium phosphate cement. The foamability of Polysorbate 80 was greater than that of gelatine, resulting in higher macroporosity in the set hydroxyapatite foam and higher macropore interconnectivity. Gelatine produced less interconnected foams, especially at high concentrations, due to a higher liquid foam stability. However it increased the injectability and cohesion of the foamed paste, and enhanced osteoblastic-like cell adhesion, all of them important properties for bone grafting materials.     

Fatigue life and endurance limit prediction of asphalt mixtures using energy-based failure criterion

Fatigue cracking is one of the major types of distress in asphalt mixtures and is caused by the accumulation of damage in pavement sections under repeated load applications. The fatigue endurance limit (EL) concept assumes a specific strain level, below which the damage in hot mix asphalt (HMA) is not cumulative. In other words, if the asphalt layer depth is controlled in a way that keeps the critical HMA flexural strain level below the EL, the fatigue life of the mixture can be extended significantly. This paper uses two common failure criteria, the traditional beam fatigue criterion and the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage model energy-based failure criterion (the so-called G^R method), to evaluate the effect of different parameters, such as reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) content, binder content, binder modification and warm mix asphalt (WMA) additives, on the EL value. In addition, both failure criteria are employed to investigate the impacts of these parameters in terms of the fatigue life of the study mixtures. According to the findings, unlike an increase in RAP content, which has a negative effect on the mixtures’ fatigue resistance, a higher binder content and/or binder modification can significantly increase the EL value and extend the fatigue life as was proved before by other researchers, whereas WMA additives do not significantly affect the mixtures’ fatigue behaviour. A comparison of the model simulation results with the field observations indicates that the G^R method predicts the field performance more accurately than the traditional method.     

Closed cell ZA27–SiC foam made through stir-casting technique

Closed cell zinc aluminum alloy (ZA27)–SiC composite foam has been synthesized using conventional stir-casting technique and CaH₂ as foaming agent. The synthesized foams are characterized in terms of its micro-architectural characteristics and deformation responses under compressive loading. It is observed that ZA27–SiC foams could be easily foamed without any difficulty. The density of the developed foam ranges from 0.25 gm/cc to 0.45 gm/cc due to the variation of CaH₂ percentage. The plateau stress and energy absorption of these foams follow power law relationship with relative density. Wherein, the densification strain follows a linear relationship with the relative density.     

Fabrication and investigation of influence of CaCO3 as foaming agent on Al-SiCp foam

Closed cell aluminum foams have been used in various disciplines of engineering. Aluminum foams provide high strength with the advantage of low weight. In the current research, CaCO₃ is used as a foaming agent for producing closed-cell aluminum foams. For the fabrication of homogenous foam, optimization of process parameters was done. The effect of SiC as a thickening agent on structural property of foams viz. density and porosity have been inspected. Foams with density 0.40–0.86 g/cm³ were produced. The produced foams were studied under axial compression tests for evaluating mechanical properties. It can be inferred from the results that by adding 3 wt.% CaCO₃, the uniform viscosity of melt was achieved and a homogeneous foam structure is achieved with optimum porosity. Also, 5 wt.% addition of CaCO₃ in melt and stirring speed at 1400 rpm tend to increase porosity and decrease cell wall thickness. The optimum values for thickening agent SiC, foaming agent CaCO₃ at stirring speed 1400 rpm were found out to be 15 wt.%, 3 wt.%. The effect of relative density, the addition of thickening and foaming agent is studied.     

Effects of long-term aging on moisture sensitivity of foamed WMA mixtures containing moist aggregates

Long-term aging of an asphalt mixture is complicated, but can be simulated in the laboratory. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of long-term aging on moisture susceptibility of foamed warm mix asphalt (WMA) mixtures containing moist aggregate. Weight loss, indirect tensile strength (ITS) of dry and conditioned specimens, and deformation (flow) were measured for all mixtures. The experimental design included two aggregate moisture contents (0 and ~0.5% by weight of the dry mass of the aggregate); two lime contents (1 and 2% lime by weight of dry aggregate) and one liquid anti-stripping agent (ASA); one foaming WMA additive (Asphamin) and two foaming water contents (2 and 3%); and two aggregate sources. A common long-term aging procedure was used in this study. A total of 64 mixtures were evaluated and 256 specimens were made and tested in this study. The test results indicated that long-term aging improved the moisture resistance of WMA mixtures regardless of the ASA and moisture conditioning. In addition, aggregate source significantly affected the moisture resistance regardless of the foaming technology, ASA, and aggregate moisture content. The mixture with various hydrated lime contents exhibited similar moisture resistance under dry and wet conditions. The liquid ASA used in the WMA mixture showed a weaker resistance to the moisture damage in comparison with hydrated lime.     

Production of Metallic Foams From Ceramic Foam Precursors

A process has been developed for obtaining closed cell metallic foams using a ceramic foam precursor. In this approach, the major constituent of the ceramic foam precursor is iron oxide (Fe₂O₃), which is mixed with various foaming/setting additives. The mixture sets rapidly at room temperature to stabilize the foam generated by hydrogen release. The oxide foam is then reduced in a non‐flammable hydrogen/inert gas mixture to obtain a metallic foam with a cell diameter of 0.5–2 mm. Iron foams with a relative density of 0.23 were tested in compression and yielded an average compressive strength of ～ 34 MPa. The compressive stress‐strain curves obtained were typical of cellular metals. The normalized strengths of the metal foams obtained in the present study compare very favorably with that of steel foams produced by other techniques.     

Enhancing the strength of pre-made foams for foam concrete applications

Chemical and mechanical foaming techniques are commonly used in foam concrete technology for developing lightweight construction materials. The characteristics of the foam before the lightweight structure sets and maintains its shape has a great impact on the properties of foamed concretes. The tendency of the foams to coalesce and collapse during the preparation process brings some challenges in controlling the properties of cellular structures. Consequently, it is critical to improve the stability of fresh foams in order to produce high quality cellular structures using a predictable and reliable approach. Aggregating the liquid film around bubbles is known to be effective in improving the stability of foams, but the impact of this stabilizing method has not been investigated for foam concrete applications. In this paper, Xanthan gum (with a thickening capacity) has been utilized as the foam stabilizer to aggregate the liquid film. This stabilizing method is shown to significantly enhance the pore size distribution of foam concretes. The resulting pre-made foams are remarkably more stable than the control foam, and the mechanical properties of the final cellular structure are considerably improved (about 34% in mechanical foaming and 20% in the chemical foaming technique).     

Fabrication of ferrous metallic foams by reduction of ceramic foam precursors

A process has been developed for obtaining closed cell metallic foams using a ceramic foam precursor. In the present study, the major constituent of the ceramic foam precursor was iron oxide (Fe₂O₃), which was mixed with various foaming/setting additives. The mixture set rapidly at room temperature, stabilizing the foam generated by hydrogen release. The oxide foam was then reduced by annealing at 1240^∘C in a non-flammable hydrogen/inert gas mixture to obtain a metallic foam with a relative density of 0.23 ± 0.017, and an average cell diameter of 1.32 ± 0.32 mm. The iron foams were tested in compression and yielded an average compressive strength of 29 ± 7 MPa. The compressive stress-strain curves obtained were typical of cellular metals. The normalized strengths of the metal foams obtained in the present study compare favorably with those of steel foams produced by other techniques.     

Investigating the effect of nanoparticles on the rutting behaviour of hot-mix asphalt

Rutting is considered as one of the major damages in asphalt mixtures. In this study, different types of nanoparticles such as TiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and ZnO in different percentages were added to the base asphalt binder in order to decrease the rutting potential of hot-mix asphalt (HMA). In the first step, asphalt binder tests for characteristics such as penetration grade, ductility, softening point and viscosity were performed on the asphalt binder modified by the nanoparticles. Then, after preparing HMA samples, the static creep test was done at two stress levels at a specific temperature. Results of this study showed that using the nanoparticles improved the behavioural properties of the asphalt binder and decreased rutting in asphalt mix samples. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope images taken from the asphalt binder samples modified by the nanoparticles demonstrated that these nanoparticles were properly distributed in the asphalt binder space and had a positive effect on the rutting performance of the asphalt mixes.     

A long-term ultraviolet aging procedure on foamed WMA mixtures

Long-term thermal and ultraviolet (UV) aging procedures of asphalt mixtures are complicated, but can be simulated in the laboratory. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of long-term thermal and UV aging on foamed warm-mix asphalt (WMA) mixtures. Rut resistance, indirect tensile strength (ITS), deformation, dissipated elastic energy, and fracture energy were measured for all mixtures. The experimental design included two aggregate sources; three aging states (unaged, thermal and UV aging); one water-bearing WMA additive and water foaming technology; two PG 64-22 binders, and three air void contents (2, 4, and 7 %). A total of 24 mixtures were evaluated and 144 specimens were made and tested in this study. The test results indicated that thermal and UV aging procedures had limited contribution in improving the rut resistance of a mixture as air void content was low. Unaged samples had the highest ITS values amongst three aging states while UV aged samples had the lowest. In addition, UV aged mixtures generally had greater dissipated energy than thermal aged mixtures regardless of foaming technology, aggregate source, and air void. Moreover, the foaming technology might reduce the stored elastic energy of the mixture due to additional water or released water from water-bearing additive. Furthermore, UV aging generally reduces the fracture resistance of an asphalt mixture than standard thermal aging. In addition, when using WMA foaming technology, aggregate source affects the fracture resistance of the asphalt mixture.     

Microstructure and fracture morphology of carbon nano-fiber modified asphalt and hot mix asphalt mixtures

This paper focuses on the microstructure and fracture surface morphology of neat and carbon nanofibers (CNF) modified asphalts and hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Asphalt binder was modified with 1.5 % of CNF by weight of binder. The modified asphalt was used to construct HMA mixtures at various CNF dosages, mixed with aggregate, using the Superpave Gyratory compactor. Small rectangular specimens extracted from the center of large HMA samples were tested under direct tension and the fracture surface was examined under SEM. The SEM analysis developed a fundamental understanding of the role that the CNF modification plays in the performance enhancement of asphalt and HMA mixtures. It was found that CNF not only possess good adhesion characteristics but also exhibits high connectivity and were evenly distribution throughout the binder. The fracture surface morphology also revealed that CNF exhibited crack bridging at micro/nano scale which may enhance the resistance to cracking due to repeated traffic loads.