Investigation of the effects of Cecabase RT 945 additive of modified bitumen at different temperatures and ratios

With the advancement of technology, there has been a significant increase in the number of motor vehicles, which has made it necessary for road pavements to be of high quality. The most commonly used bituminous hot mixtures (HMA) are road pavements. HMAs are mixed between 140°C and 180°C and compressed between 120°C and 160°C. Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technologies, which have been used worldwide since the 2000s, are produced at temperatures 20°C to 40°C lower than HMAs. The biggest advantage of producing asphalt mixtures at lower temperatures is the reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. There are various additives used in the production of HMA technologies, and in this study we examined Cecabase RT 945, one of the chemical additives. The pure bitumen used in the study has a penetration degree of 70/100. Four different Cecabase RT 945 ratios calculated as 0%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5% of the bitumen weight were added to the bitumen. In accordance with the experimental plans prepared according to Taguchi L16 orthogonal array, the mixtures were prepared by mixing at 120°C, 130°C, 140°C and 150°C mixing temperatures and 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 RPM mixing speeds for 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. Penetration, softening point, flash point, rotational thin film oven (RTFOT), elastic recovery and Marshall stability tests were applied to the prepared samples. The effects of these parameters and levels on the binder were investigated and their compliance with the specifications were evaluated. Cecabase RT 945 additive increased the penetration value of pure bitumen and decreased the softening point value. In addition, the elastic recovery percentage of the modified bitumen increased, RTFOT mass loss decreased and Marshall stability value increased. As a result of the optimizations carried out with the Taguchi Method, the most suitable conditions were determined as 0.3% Cecabase RT 945 ratio, 140°C mixing temperature, 20 minutes mixing time and 3000 RPM mixing speed.