Investigation the electrical properties of bituminous hot mixtures with carbon fiber addtive

Increased traffic volumes and axle loads, faults of construction, compelling effects such as inadequate maintenance and climatic conditions, etc. cause to premature failures of road pavements less than expected service life. Besides, raw materials such as aggregate and oil are gradually decreasing. This situation raises the necessity of increasing the quality of existing bituminous pavements and extending their service life and encourages making research on the subject. As a result of these researches different types of bituminous mixtures (stone mastic asphalt, warm mix asphalt, superpave, modified bituminous mixtures, etc.) were developed and at the same time researches were gained importance about developing the performance and properties of existing bituminous mixtures by adding various additives and materials. In another application, which utilizes the use of fibers, the conversion of the bituminous mixtures into a conductive from insulator. In order to prevent icing on road surfaces, traditional methods such as chemical substances and salting are used. However, these methods are inadequate for anti-icing and cause to unavoidable problems. These methods systematically deteriorate to bituminous mixtures and reduce its service life. For example, the using anti-icing chemicals not only damage the asphalt pavements and bridge decks, but also has destructive effect on the soil and ecological environment. It also causes corrosion in metallic parts of vehicles. In this thesis, bituminous hot mix and stone mastic asphalt mixture specimens with three different lengths (5,10,15 mm) and 0,1, 0,2, 0,3, 0.4 and 0.5 % by weight carbon fiber (CF) were produced at constant optimum bitumen ratios of 4.5% and 6.5% respectively. Electrical conductivity properties, Marshall Stability, Flow, Ultra sound passing velocity, bitumen drainage etc. properties were measured on these specimens and test results were assessed. It was concluded that, the optimum amount of bitumen must be found for each different CF ratio, and CF is very effective additive to improving the electrical conductivity properties of the bituminous mixtures.