Impact of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) on low-temperature properties of asphalt concrete

Hot mix recycling is a practice which enables reusing materials from old asphalt pavements. Current Polish regulations allow usage of RAP only for binder and base courses, and its amount is limited. Asphalt mixtures with RAP material have to fulfil requirements stated for typical asphalt mixtures. The research presents low-temperature properties of twelve different asphalt concretes with RAP material, determined using three-point bending test. Mixtures differed in: type (for wearing, binder or base courses), content of RAP (from 0% up to 60%), quality of RAP material and application of rejuvenator. For all mixtures, RAP content strongly influences mechanical properties – critical strain and flexural strength. Their values decreased with an increase in the used amount of RAP. The greatest decrease was observed for wearing and binder courses. The changes were much smaller for base course mixtures, even with higher amounts of RAP.