Evaluation of Performance and Moisture Sensitivity of Polymer-Modified Mixture Containing Glass Aggregates

The incorporation of waste glass solids, as alternative raw materials, into highway pavements provides excellent benefits such as conserving natural resources, reducing construction costs, lowering environmental pollution, and increasing the accessibility of road aggregates. Since waste glass possesses an all-around fracture, high stiffness, and internal friction angle properties, it may improve the quality of asphalt mixtures. Despite these advantages, asphalt mixtures containing glass aggregates, referred to as glasphalt mixtures, suffer from several disadvantages. The poor adhesion between asphalt and glass aggregates leads to stripping and reduces the glasphalt mixture’s strength under moisture and vehicle load. Therefore, a suitable additive should be used to solve the glasphalt mixture’s moisture sensitivity and improve its mechanical properties. This study investigated the effect of styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) on the mechanical properties and moisture sensitivity of glasphalt mixtures. Five samples with various percentages of SBS copolymer (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%) and waste glass particles (10%) were manufactured. The AASHTO T283, Marshall, indirect tensile fatigue, and repeated load axial tests were performed on both modified and unmodified samples. The results demonstrated that the use of SBS, with better adhesion between the binder and glass aggregates, reduced the modified glasphalt mixtures’ moisture sensitivity, extended their fatigue life, and enhanced their resistance to permanent deformation compared to control mixtures.