Volume 06,Issue 04

Application of Nano Silica to Improve Self-Healing of Bitumen Mixtures

Authors

Pala Gireesh Kumar

Abstract
Rutting and cracking are two common modes of failures in asphalt pavements. Due to increase in traffic volume and traffic loads, asphalt pavements get deteriorated gradually during their service life. Deterioration of asphalt pavements can be eliminated/minimized by enhancing the quality of bitumen and with modified bitumen. The use of nano materials as an additive because of its special characteristics is one of the self healing technique which have the potential to improve the pavement performance, extending its life span and also eliminating the need for pavement maintenance. This research work investigates the performance of nano silica in asphalt pavement. Experiments were conducted on bitumen and modified bitumen (addition of nano silica of different percentages, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% with bitumen) in order to find the optimum nano silica content for preparing Marshal Mix. It was found that, for 6% of nano silica in modified bitumen, gave improved properties among other percentages of nano silica contents that are examined. Nano silica modified bituminous mix (NSMBM) samples were prepared for various bitumen contents, i.e., 4.5%, 5% and 5.5% and conducted marshal stability test. This study concludes that, the results obtained from marshal test gives higher stability value (10. 32 kN to 20.18 kN) and lesser flow value (4.48 mm to 2.60 mm) for Modified bituminous mixes over unmodified bituminous mix samples. Finally, the healing index was also determined based on theoretical approach and obtained 80 % healing rate for modified bituminous mix. Further investigations can be carried out on long term effects of NS in asphalt pavements as well as test rest periods for different temperatures and different loads.

Keyword: Bituminous Mix, Healing Index, Marshal Test, Nano Silica, NSMB.

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