Alexandros Margaritis

Fatigue resistance is of paramount importance for bituminous materials and so it is the effect of applying rest periods, as this is a more realistic representation of the traffic loading. To this end, to evaluate the healing potential, storage rest periods were introduced during a series of fatigue tests. In this study, the healing investigation was performed on the asphalt and mortar scale, aiming to assess the effect of reclaimed asphalt binder (RAB) on the healing potential. For the mortars, the healing indices derived under different damage levels and rest periods were modelled into a healing master curve, describing the healing index as a function of damage level and rest time. The asphalt tests revealed that the mixtures containing RAB showed higher healing potential compared to the control mix, attributed mainly to the existence of a softer blend as a result of partial blending. Furthermore, chemical indicators were considered to assess the healing potential of the binder blends and compared to the results of the healing tests. For the mortars, the 70% RAB samples showed the lowest healing potential, reflecting the full effect of very high RAB content, when the RAB is fully blended with the virgin binder.