Effect of asphalt binder hardness and temperature on fatigue life and complex modulus of hot mixes

•The high hardness binders shift the critical temperature.•Strain for one million cycles varies according to temperature and binder hardness.•It is possible to determine the critical temperature for pavement design.•Asphalt mixtures with higher hardness binders have a greater life fatigue.•The Cole-Cole plane shows a parity between the fatigue and complex modulus. This paper deals with fatigue and complex modulus for three hot mixes. The Brazilian asphalt binders used in this work are classified by penetration grade 10/20, 30/45 and 50/70. It was observed a critical temperature variation in the Cole-Cole plane and in the fatigue test, where the smallest strain for one million cycles occurs at 30°C for the mixture with penetration grade binder 10/20, and at 20°C for the mixture with penetration grade binder 30/45, in relation to the mixtures prepared with conventional penetration grade binder 50/70, in which larger viscous component of the modulus normally occurs at 10°C.