Laboratory investigation of graphene modified asphalt efficacy to pavement performance

The pavement industry is in constant search of new asphalt binder modifiers. Modifying the asphalt binder allows for a wider temperature range, which provides better performance and longer pavement service life. This study aims to evaluate the efficacies of graphene-modified asphalt on pavement performance through the laboratory test on asphalt binder and asphalt mixtures prepared with unmodified and graphene-modified binders. Four different graphene types (varied in particle size and purity), two types of asphalt binder (neat and SBS-modified) and two types of asphalt mixture (surface and base) were used in this study. Three binder types were chosen to perform the asphalt mixture performance tests IDEAL CT and Flow Number. Based on the results of this work, it was concluded that graphene could effectively increase the rutting resistance of asphalt mixture; however, the cracking resistance is strongly correlated to the quality of the graphene (particle size and purity).