materials

Editorial
Special Issue: Characterization of Innovative Asphalt Materials
for Use in Pavement Design and Analysis
Gilda Ferrotti * and Andrea Graziani

Department of Civil and Building Engineering and Architecture, Università Politecnica delle Marche,
60131 Ancona, Italy; a.graziani@staff.univpm.it
* Correspondence: g.ferrotti@staff.univpm.it

1. Introduction
The development of innovative and sustainable materials for use in asphalt pavement
applications has received increasing attention over the past 20 years, also thanks to the
growing interest in the circular economy approach, which is replacing the linear one [1–6].
High-performance [7–9] and/or innovative materials such as nanomaterials for asphalt
modification [9–11] can be employed for investigating the possibility of achieving a longer
service life of pavement structures, maximizing the material productivity. At the same time,
the use of renewable materials in partial replacement of asphalt, such as bio-binders [12–15],
and the recycling of end-of-life pavement materials with hot [16,17], warm [18,19] and
cold [20–22] technologies is becoming more and more popular nowadays. However,
these innovative/high-performance materials can be used for paving mixtures only after
checking their ability to resist both traffic and environmental actions. Moreover, bringing
these innovations from laboratory-scale studies to industrial or pavement-scale applications
is now an open challenge that can only be addressed through a rigorous performance- and




design-related characterization.

 Accordingly, this Special Issue of Materials aimed at collecting research focused on
Citation: Ferrotti, G.; Graziani, A. the development of innovative and sustainable asphalt materials, as well as on mixture
Special Issue: Characterization of and structural design. With the aim of seeking the right material to solve market-driven
Innovative Asphalt Materials for Use challenges, the following aspects were investigated:
in Pavement Design and Analysis.
• Performance evaluation of innovative materials, such as renewable materials and
Materials 2022, 15, 1883. https://
graphite nanoplatelets;
doi.org/10.3390/ma15051883
• Investigation of the possible employment of wastes (sanitary ceramics, crumb rubber,
Received: 20 October 2021 reclaimed asphalt) in asphalt pavement applications.
Accepted: 23 February 2022
The research performed by numerous universities and scientific centres from Europe,
Published: 3 March 2022
Asia and North America demonstrated that innovative/high-performance materials can
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral be employed in asphalt pavement applications only if their behaviour is comparable to
with regard to jurisdictional claims in that of the conventional asphalt materials, for which the design approaches were originally
published maps and institutional affil- conceived and validated.
iations.
2. Short Description of the Articles Published in This Special Issue
Twenty universities and scientific centres contributed with their original research pa-
pers to this Special Issue of Materials. The issues covered can be divided into five main topics:
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
• Characterization of recycled materials in asphalt concrete mixtures, such as waste
This article is an open access article
of sanitary ceramics [23], crumb rubber (CR) from waste tires [24–26] and reclaimed
distributed under the terms and asphalt (RA) [27,28];
conditions of the Creative Commons • Investigation of natural [28] or bio-based [29] materials used as rejuvenators in recycled
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// asphalt applications;
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ • Study of rheological and fatigue behaviour of bituminous materials with [30] and
4.0/). without [31] the use of renewable bio-materials;

Materials 2022, 15, 1883. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15051883 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

Materials 2022, 15, 1883 2 of 5

• Evaluation of lubricant characteristics of graphite nanoplatelets [32];

• Fatigue life prediction model for materials employed on long-span steel bridge
decks [33].
Andrzejuk et al. [23] evaluated the possibility of recycling aggregates from waste
sanitary ceramics in asphalt concrete mixtures. The mineral composition, the physical and
mechanical properties, the morphology and the texture of the aggregates, as well as the
affinity between aggregate and bitumen were investigated. They observed that the recycled
aggregates provided sufficient properties regarding grain shape, freezing and thawing
resistance and resistance to fragmentation. They also noted insufficient affinity between
bitumen and aggregates by suggesting, in future works, the use of selected adhesion agents
for improving this property.
Zhang et al. [24] investigated the effectiveness of different methods for modifying a
base bitumen with CR: pre-treatment of the CR particles by microwave activation, use of the
warm mix additive Sasobit and trans-polyoctenamer (TOR) procedure. Physical properties
(softening point, elastic recovery, rotational viscosity) and rheological tests (frequency
sweep, multiple stress creep and recovery) were performed. The trans-polyoctenamer
(TOR) procedure provided higher temperature stability, elastic recovery and viscosity with
respect to the other two methods. On the contrary, the microwave-activated rubberized
bitumen had the lowest viscosity, but also the worst performance at high temperature and
in terms of elastic recover. The addition of Sasobit to the rubberized bitumen provided
intermediate performance with respect to the other two methods.
The study presented by Gawdzik et al. [25] was aimed at investigating the process
of modification of bitumen with crumb rubber, paying particular attention to the rubber
addition percentages (10 and 15%), mixing times (2, 4 and 8 h) and mixing temperatures
(190 and 220 ◦ C). The results showed that both temperatures improved the properties of
the base bitumen, although the bitumen modified at 190 ◦ C contained more non-degraded
rubber. The increase of the mixing time led to the dissolution of the rubber crumbs and to
its de-vulcanization. Moreover, it has been shown that bitumens modified in this way were
characterized by high storage stabilities.
The aim of the research presented by Li et al. [26] concerned the possibility of preparing
disintegrated high-volume crumb rubber asphalt (DHVRA) by adding a disintegrating
agent in the asphalt rubber preparation process. This new procedure tried to solve the
problems related to the traditional production method of the asphalt rubber (AR) by
maximizing the recycling of waste CR and obtaining a homogeneous AR with low viscosity
and good storage stability and improving its poor low-temperature performance. To this
aim, they analysed the micro-disintegrating mechanism and evaluated high-temperature
and low-temperature rheological properties of DHVRA. Results indicated that with an
optimum dosage of disintegrating agent it is possible to promote the melt decomposition
of CR, to reduce the viscosity and to improve the storage stability of DHVRA.
In the paper presented by Ferrotti et al. [27] a trial pavement section, prepared with
a cold recycled asphalt mixture (with 88% RA) laid as binder course, was monitored for
more than two years. The comparison between field curing and oven-curing in laboratory
at 40 ◦ C was performed in terms of indirect tensile strength, complex modulus, air voids
content, as well as evolution of indirect tensile stiffness modulus as a function of curing time.
Results showed that the development of material stiffness can be accelerated with a small
effect on its long-term value if oven-curing is applied a few days/weeks after compaction.
Moreover, the complex modulus values confirmed that cold recycled asphalt mixtures
provide an intermediate behaviour between asphalt concrete mixtures and cement-treated
mixtures.
The research performed by Slabonski et al. [28] concerned the investigation of the
properties of a rejuvenator (main active components of natural origin) used in asphalt
concrete mixtures with low (20%), medium (40%) and high (100%) percentages of RA. Both
laboratory and field trial specimens were tested, as well as the warm mix asphalt (WMA)
technology. The achieved results showed that the rejuvenator improved the homogeniza-
Materials 2022, 15, 1883 3 of 5

tion of RA with the asphalt binder and aggregate in each mixture type. Suitable compaction
characteristics were obtained for WMA mixtures with an increased content of RA.
Nciri [29] et al. studied the performance of a bio-based rejuvenator derived from
waste pig fat (WPF) used in recycled asphalt applications. Different dosages of WPF (0, 3,
6, and 9% by binder weight) were added to a binder recovered from a RA for producing
bitumen blends that were investigated in terms of chemical and rheological properties.
Results showed that this rejuvenator can rehabilitate the RA binder that was compromised
during the aging process, reduce the binder mixing and compaction temperatures, assist
in adjusting the properties of the recovered binder by reducing viscosity and softening
point values and increasing penetration values. Moreover, it can improve low-temperature
performance and resistance to fatigue cracking, even if it can reduce the rutting resistance
and the high-temperature performance.
The research presented by Gaudenzi et al. [30] involved rheological measurements
aimed at evaluating the fatigue behaviour and comparing the self-healing capability of two
plain bitumen and a bio-binder obtained by partially replacing one of the plain bitumen
with a renewable bio-oil. They investigated the effects of bitumen type, amount of bio-oil
addition, and aging on the healing potential of binders, evaluated by means of a recently
proposed approach. Results showed that the method for healing analysis is suitable for
both conventional and bio-add binders and that the fatigue and self-healing characteristics
are mainly dependent on binder consistency but are also affected by aging. Moreover, the
addition of bio-oil may increase the healing potential with respect to conventional bitumen,
especially in aged condition. These results encourage the use of such bio-binders in road
applications to obtain significant benefits in terms of performance and durability.
The aim of the research presented by Al-Mohammedawi et al. [31] concerned the
influence of active fillers (i.e., cement) on rheological properties and fatigue behaviour
of cold bitumen emulsion (CBE) mastic. Both chemical and rheological analysis were
performed on mastics prepared with a bituminous emulsion and seven different fillers.
Results showed that the rheological performance and the fatigue damage resistance depend
not only on the filler inclusions, but also on filler type and chemistry. For specific fillers, the
rise in the norm of the complex shear modulus and the decrease in the viscous component
is associated with a significant enhancement in fatigue performance.
The objective of the study performed by Yan et al. [32] was to examine the effect of
graphite nanoplatelets (GNP) on the lubricating behaviour of asphalt binders, trying to
correlate the improved compactability observed for asphalt mixtures modified with GNP
with the lubrication properties of the GNPs modified binder. Three binders with different
percentages of GNP (0, 3 and 6% by binder weight) and different substrates (smooth and
rough to simulate the mineral aggregate surface micro-texture) were investigated using
viscosity and tribological tests. Results showed that, in the case of smooth substrates, GNP
do not improve the lubricating behaviour of the binder. On the contrary, when rough
substrates (which better represent the aggregate surface) are investigated, the lubrication
properties of the binder are progressively improved as the GNP amount increases. Thus,
the addition of GNP can enhance the lubrication properties of the binder when mixed
with mineral aggregates confirming that the viscosity is not the only parameter involved
in the compaction of asphalt mixtures, as the interaction between the aggregates plays a
crucial role.
In the paper presented by Xu et al. [33], a fatigue life prediction model for asphalt
concretes laid on long-span steel bridge decks was established based on the mechanism of
fatigue damage evolution of materials from the microscopic perspective. Moreover, the
reliability of the model was verified by fatigue tests performed on epoxy asphalt (EA), stone
matrix asphalt (SMA) and gussasphalt (GA). The proposed model can provide a reference
to predict the fatigue life of steel–asphalt concrete composite decks with cracked or non-
cracked asphalt concrete layers. Epoxy asphalt showed higher strength and resistance
to deformation than SMA and GA, thus providing better fatigue performance. However,
it is worth noting that the influence of environmental factors such as processes of frost
Materials 2022, 15, 1883 4 of 5

degradation of materials and penetration of chlorides from the ice melting agents as well
as the transversal loading distribution coefficient on the fatigue life of the orthotropic
steel–asphalt concrete composite deck were not considered in the study.

3. Conclusions
The number of papers published in this Special Issue of Materials demonstrates the
interest attracted by the exploration of innovative materials for use in asphalt concrete
pavements. The issues covered proved that the international scientific community is not
only looking for innovative, but also sustainable materials, which meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Recycled materials such as crumb rubber, renewable bio-materials and reclaimed asphalt,
as well as graphite nanoplatelets and natural materials used as rejuvenators, tend toward
the circular economy model, which aims at enhancing the resource efficiency by exploiting
wastes that can be used as raw materials in different processes.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review

and editing: G.F. and A.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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