Recycling of rubber tires in asphalt paving materials

Abstract

It has been known that the addition of rubber to asphalt used in paving will produced markedly superior road surfaces. Partly because of cost and because of the nonconventional paving techniques necessary, rubber has been largely ignored as a practical paving additive except in special cases. However, the large accumulation of old tires existing today provides a ready source for suitable rubber. If ground into a fine powder, this rubber can be mixed in a conventional pug mill along with sand, stone and asphalt to produce a hot mix which can be aplied in the normal manner without any special techniques. The extra cost of such modification is only 1% of a typical paving contract, whereas the advantages include lower maintenance cost, more durable road surface, and elimination of unwanted waste tires. This report has been prepared to assist civic and other authorities in the development of improved road surfacing formulations through the reuse of old tires. It includes the results of paving trials in Toronto and laboratory evaluations. These tests show that the addition of powdered rubber to asphalt paving materials markedly improves the durability and crack resistance, particularly at low temperatures. Additives in the rubber impart good strength retention in the presence of moisture. The toughness increases with age due to a slow interaction of the rubber with the asphalt which is accompanied by an increase in viscosity. As a result, performance is also enhanced at high temperatures and helps to minimize pavement distortions due to hot weather and traffic. 16 refs., 18 figs., 2 tabs.