ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mater.
Sec. Polymeric and Composite Materials
Physicochemical characterisation of severely aged crumb rubber modified bitumen
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shaanxi Polytechnic University, Xianyang, China
- 2Chang'an University, Xi'an, China
- 3Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
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Crumb rubber was incorporated into neat bitumen at a dosage of 15 wt% to mitigate the challenges of rising crude oil prices, high dependence on fossil fuels, and energy shortages. Both the unmodified bitumen and crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) were subjected to short-and severe long-term ageing. The rheological properties were evaluated using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and a bending beam rheometer (BBR) to investigate the high-, intermediate-, and low-temperature performance of the binders under different ageing conditions. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed to characterise the chemical changes with modification and ageing. The results indicate that the incorporation of crumb rubber significantly enhances the high-and low-temperature performance of bitumen but slightly reduces its fatigue resistance and durability. Crumb rubber does not alter the oxidation pathway of bitumen. After severe long-term ageing, the chemical characteristics of CRMB remain comparable to those of neat bitumen.
Keywords: Ageing, Crumb rubber modified bitumen, durability, Fatigue, Rheology
Received: 07 Nov 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Yang, Zhang, Wang, Wei, Su and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rui Wu
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