Implementation of nondestructive testing and mechanical performance approaches to assess low temperature fracture properties of asphalt binders

In the present work, three different asphalt binders were studied to assess their fracture behavior at low temperatures. Fracture properties of asphalt materials were obtained through conducting the compact tension [C(T)] and indirect tensile [ID(T)] strength tests. Mechanical fracture tests were followed by performing acoustic emissions test to determine the “embrittlement temperature” of binders which was used in evaluation of thermally induced microdamages in binders. Results showed that both nondestructive and mechanical testing approaches could successfully capture low-temperature cracking behavior of asphalt materials. It was also observed that using GTR as the binder modifier significantly improved thermal cracking resistance of PG64-22 binder. The overall trends of AE test results were consistent with those of mechanical tests.