Investigation of the aging of bituminous mixtures containing vermiculite with indirect tensile test

In our country, kilometers of asphalt pavement loses its service ability due to premature formation of low temperature cracks and fatigue cracks due to the effect of aging. This deterioration leads to unnecessary maintenance costs and decreases the comfort of the highway, as no precautions are taken during the production of the mixture. It has been determined by some researchers that the use of vermiculite in binders has increased the aging resistance of binders. In this study, long-term aging of the warm mix asphalt mixtures prepared by adding warm mix asphalt additives and vermiculite to the binders has been investigated by indirect tensile strength test. As a result of the study, it was seen that the use of vermiculite as an additive decreased the penetration value of the bituminous mixture and increased the softening point value. The low penetration value means that the use of vermiculite involed bituminous mixtures in high temperature applications can be beneficial. It has also been found that vermiculite increases the indirect tensile strength of the bituminous mixtures. Thus, vermiculite involed bituminous mixtures may exhibit a better resistance to cracking and may reduce the occurrence of rutting due to internal friction resistance.