Assesment Of The Use Of Diatomite And Pumice In Stone Mastic Asphalt As Stabilizer

Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) has been preferred to start because of its better resistance to rutting due to slow, heavy and high volume of traffic. Structure of SMA consists of high coarse aggregate, high asphalt contents and fiber additives as stabilizers. The stabilizing additives generally composed of cellulose fibers, mineral fibers or polymers are added to SMA mixtures to prevent draindown from the mixture. In this study, usability of diatomite and pumice are investigated in SMA as stabilizer. Initially, Marshall samples of SMA mixtures with cellulose fibers with varying binder content are prepared. The optimum binder content is determined keeping the suggested air void content in the mix. Thereafter, the draindown characteristics are studied with diatomite and pumice added SMA mixtures. It is observed that there is a high possibility use of 0.25 % diatomite and 0.20 % pumice in SMA at determined optimum binder as stabilizer.