BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING TIRE RUBBER INTO ASPHALT BINDER FOR RUBBERIZED ASPHALT

When designing an asphalt overlay, it is essential to ensure that, in addition to providing comfort and safety to traffic, it also protects the sub-base, base, reinforcement, and subgrade layers. To achieve this, it is important to analyze the characteristics of the materials used and their behavior within the pavement structure. This study aims to analyze the results obtained in laboratory tests of asphalt binder with the use of ground tire rubber as an addition to asphalt cement through the wet incorporation process. The objective is to determine and evaluate the influence of the addition at different levels and compare them to conventional asphalt binder without any addition. The necessary data for the study and the main characteristics of the binder were obtained in the laboratory through tests such as penetration, softening point, flash point, elastic recovery using a ductilometer, and Saybolt-Furol viscosity. Analyzing the results obtained, it is evident that there are benefits to adding tire rubber to the physical behavior of the binder. It was possible to determine that there was an increase in the material's melting point compared to the binder without any addition, indicating an increase in resistance to permanent deformations. It was also observed that there is an increase in the consistency and ductility of the material with increasing rubber content, contributing to increased shear resistance and elasticity modulus, which could help reduce the occurrence of cracks in the pavement surface.