See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/232895598

Modified toughness used to evaluate the effect of polymer modified asphalt

on SMA

Article  in  Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers · November 2004

DOI: 10.1080/02533839.2004.9670956

CITATIONS READS

2 174

4 authors:

Jyh-Dong Lin Shih-Huang Chen

National Central University National Central University
223 PUBLICATIONS   395 CITATIONS    34 PUBLICATIONS   89 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Pei Liu Jian-Neng Wang

Feng Chia University National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
13 PUBLICATIONS   57 CITATIONS    41 PUBLICATIONS   339 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

H CHEN PROJECT View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Jyh-Dong Lin on 15 May 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, Vol. 27, No. 7, pp. 1013-1020 (2004) 1013

MODIFIED TOUGHNESS USED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF

POLYMER MODIFIED ASPHALT ON SMA

Jyh-Dong Lin, Shih-Huang Chen*, Pei Liu, and Jian-Neng Wang

ABSTRACT
Toughness, as defined in ASTM D5801, is the work used to stretch a specimen
until fracture, and is used to evaluate the ability of polymer modified asphalt (PMA)
to resist deformation. Fracture elongations in PMA are usually longer than 10 cm.
However, it is almost impossible for asphalt concrete, with or without PMA, to en-
dure such large deformation before fracture. It is presumed that an effective elonga-
tion exists for more effective determination of toughness. Principle component analysis
(PCA) and single regression analysis were used in this study to evaluate the correla-
tion between physical tests of PMA, including toughness and performance tests of
Stonic Mastic Asphalt (SMA). Meanwhile, performance tests, including resilient
modulus tests, creep tests and indirect tensile tests, were conducted on SMA samples.
According to the results form Principle Components Analysis (PCA), it was observed
that only a common factor affects the performance tests. Regression analyses were
used to find common factors from physical tests of PMA. Correlation coefficients
between toughness and performance tests were found to be better than other physical
tests. When toughness was calculated with effective elongation (6.5 cm), R 2 was 0.90.
In our opinion, the desirable PMA should provide SMA enough work to resist the
deformation while the deformation is still small. This result was also confirmed by
observation of SEM and Rheological analysis. Modified toughness (calculated with
effective elongation) considered as the common factor, is a simple method to evaluate
the microstructure of PMA. Overall, modified toughness seems promising for use in
evaluation of the effect of PMA on SMA.

Key Words: modified toughness, polymer modified asphalt, stonic mastic asphalt

I. INTRODUCTION Mixture characteristics (such as coarse aggregate ra-

Recently, Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) concrete
has become the prevalent pavement material in Tai-
wan’s national highways, and consequently its per-
formance has received more attention recently.
*Corresponding author. (Tel: 886-9-63285878; Fax: 886-3-
4227183; Email: s8342008@cc.ncu.edu.tw)
J. D. Lin is with the Department of Civil Engineering, National
Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
S. H. Chen is with the Department of Transportation & Logis-
tics, Toko University, Chai-Yi, Taiwan 603, R.O.C.
P. Lin is with the Department of Traffic and Transportation En-
gineering and Management, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Tai-
wan 407, R.O.C.
J. N. Wang is with the Department of Construction Engineering,
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Tai-
wan 640, R.O.C.
tio), asphalt quality, workmanship, and environmen-
tal temperature, are all considered as important fac-
tors for performance of SMA (Scherocmam, 1992).
In Taiwan, pavement temperatures during the
summer can easily reach to 65°C. According to the
Superpave specification (Asphalt Institute, 1995), PG70
graded asphalt cement should be selected for such a
warm environment. Nonetheless, because most as-
phalt cement production in Taiwan is either PG58 or
PG64 (Jiang, 1991), polymer modified asphalt cement
(PMA) is generally used as a binder material for SMA.
Toughness and rheological properties have been
considered as important factors for performance
evaluation of PMA. Benson (1955) studied the rela-
tions between tensile force applied and the amount
of asphalt cement was stretched by that force, and
1014 Journal of the Chiness Institute of Engineers, Vol. 27, No. 7 (2004)

Table 1 Basic composition and physical test of polymer modified asphalt

Sample ID CAR G1 G2 U
Polymer SBS-R, 6% SBS-L, 6% SBS-R, 3% SBS-L, 3%
Base Asphalt AC20+ AC20 AC20 AC20
Penetration, 25°C (1/100 mm) 45 47 48 52
Viscosity, 60°C (Poises) 32340 20410 18760 9945
Softening point, R&B(°C) 79 73 55 54
Toughness (kg×cm) 281 159 133 136
Tenacity (kg×cm) 245 132 116 115
R: radial type, L: linear type

20.00 Table 2 Aggregate grading for all mixes

CAR
G1 Sieve size (mm) 12.5mm NMAS (9) Passing %
G2
U U 25.0 100 100
15.00 19.0 100 100
G1
G2 CAR 12.5 100-90 95
9.5 78-26 52
Force (kgf)

4.75 28-20 24
10.00
2.36 24-16 20
1.18 21-13 17
0.60 18-12 15
5.00
0.30 15-12 13.5
0.075 10-8 9
NMAS: Nominal Maximum Aggregate Size
10.8
0.00
12.1 15.1 22.8
0 10 20
Elongation (cm) II. MATERIAL

Fig. 1 Results of toughness test 1. Asphalt Cement

PMA with Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) is

proposed the concept of toughness. Toughness of
material (as in ASTM D5801) was defined as the to-
tal work needed to separate the tension head from the
sample under certain test conditions. It serves as an
indicator of polymer’s effect on the base asphalt
(ASTM D5840). On the other hand, tenacity is used
to indicate the amount and type of polymer used in
base asphalt. Although toughness and tenacity are
prevalently used, studies have reported that the tough-
ness of PMA might not be closely related to the ef-
fect of PMA on performance of SMA. (Lin, 1992;
Jiang and Lin, 1993; Liu, 1996; Tan, 1996)
Appropriate PMA selection is critical for the
success of a project (Kennepohl, 1992). Conse-
quently, it is important to determine a feasible method
of quality evaluation for PMA. In this study, corre-
lation between physical tests on PMA and perform-
ance tests on SMA are investigated. In order to de-
velop a simple technique for evaluating PMA’s ef-
fect on the performance of SMA that does not require
expensive and complicated test instruments.
widely used in Taiwan, and thus four commercial
PMA mixes were used in this study. Physical prop-
erties, including penetration, viscosity, softening
point; toughness, and tenacity, of each PMA were
evaluated. Composition and properties of each tested
PMA are given in Table 1. Meanwhile, Fig. 1 illus-
trates the force-elongation relationships of these four
PMA. It can be observed from these results that, in
terms of physical properties, the order of superiority
is CAR>G 1 >G 2 >U. On the other hand, the order
CAR>G 1>G 2⋅=⋅U can be observed when only tough-
ness is considered.
2. Aggregate Gradation and Fiber
Aggregate gradation conforming to the specifi-
cation in NCHRP Report 425(Brown, 1999) was used
in this study and is presented in Table 2. Cellulose
fibers were added to 0.3 percent, by total weight, of
the mixture. Mix gradation and amount of fiber ad-
dition were the same for all mixtures in this study.
 J. D. Lin et al.: Modified Toughness Used to Evaluate the Effect of Polymer Modified Asphalt on SMA
Table 3 Mixture properties
A B
Mixture
(Using CAR)
Optimum binders Content (%) 6.8
VCA DRC>VCA MIX Ok
Average VMA (%) 17.3
Average Va (%) 3.5
Drawdown (%) 0.03
TSR (%) 85
TSR: Tensile Strength Ratio
3. Mixture and Specimen Preparation
All specimens were compacted using the Troxler
model 4140 Superpave Gyration Compactor (SGC).
Compaction procedure followed NCHRP Report 425.
(Brown, 1999) All loose mixtures went through short
time aging, as specified in ASSHTO PP2 and were
then compacted using an SGC with 100 gyrations (TP4).
Calculated optimum binder content, air voids, VMA
and VCA of each type of SMA are given in Table 3.
III. TEST PROCEDURE AND DISCUSSION
The search for a simple technique to evaluate
PMA’s effect on the performance of SMA was con-
ducted in four phases. Performance tests of SMA
were carried out in the first phase. Then, in the sec-
ond phase, Principal Components Factor Analysis
(PCA) method was adopted to find common factors
affecting the performance of SMA. PCA only offers
a relationship between a common factor and perform-
ance tests. Since the type of PMA was the only vari-
able in this study, the common factor was therefore
regarded as the PMA property. To find the common
factor from physical test results, single linear regres-
sion analysis was carried out in the third phase, and
according to these results, toughness was a better
choice than the other properties. Since toughness may
not be a good indicator of the performance of SMA,
in phase four a “modified toughness” was proposed
for evaluation of PMA’s effect. In addition, scan-
ning electronic microscopy (SEM) and rheometer
measurements were used to confirm the effectiveness
of this modified toughness approach.
1. Phase I: Laboratory Performance Tests on SMA
(i) Resilient Modulus Test
The Indirect tension test for resilient modulus
was used to measure the stiffness of the SMA sam-
ples. Standard procedures of ASTM D4123 (1999)
1015
C D
Specification
(Using G1) (Using G2) (Using U)
6.8 6.8 6.7
Ok Ok Ok Ok
17.2 17.1 17.5 >27
3.7 3.4 3.5 3-4
0.06 0.03 0.01 <0.3
89 80 90 >70
were performed. Tests were carried out at 25°C and
40°C, using a test frequency of 1.0 Hz.
(ii) Uniaxial Creep Test (static)
Creep test conditions were at an axial stress of
14.5psi for 3600 sec. Loading and unloading times
were 1800 sec. These test were carried out at 25°C
and 40°C (Sao, 1994).
(iii) Indirect Tensile Strength Test
Tensile strength was used to evaluate the abil-
ity to resist deformation of asphalt concrete. In this
study, the Marshall Method apparatus was used to
apply loads. In order to uniformly distribute the load,
the compressive load was applied through a 1/2" wide
metallic loading strip. These tests were performed
using displacement control at a constant vertical dis-
placement rate of 2 inch/min. Standard procedures
of ASTM D4123 (1999) were performed.
(iv) Result of Laboratory Performance Tests
Table 4 summarizes laboratory performance test
results, including MR, tensile strength and static
uniaxial creep, of SMA samples. Although the physi-
cal test results, as in table 1, indicated a performance
ranking of CAR>G 1>G 2>U, the laboratory perform-
ance test results, as in Table 4, illustrate a somewhat
different trend. It can be seen that although the CAR
type PMA had the best physical property, the SMA
mix A, which used CAR type PMA as binder mate-
rial, did not perform as well in the performance tests.
The radial types of SBS have generally better
thermal resistance than linear ones. However, the radial
types of SBS have higher molecular weight, and thus
need more time and higher temperature to be dispersed
into the base asphalt. Meanwhile, chemical compo-
sition of asphalt, including asphaltenes, aromatics, satu-
rates and resins, also affect compatibility between
polymer and base asphalt. This implies that mix
1016 Journal of the Chiness Institute of Engineers, Vol. 27, No. 7 (2004)

Table 4 Result of MR, tensile strength and creep test of SMA

MR Tensile strength, 25°C Static Uniaxial creep
25°C 40°C Tensile Work η 3, 25°C η 3, 40°C E 1 , 25°C E 1, 40°C
Mix
Kg/cm 2 Kg/cm 2 Kg/cm 2 Kg*cm Kg*sec/cm 2 Kg*sec/cm 2 Kg /cm 2 Kg/cm 2
A 17857 2859 8 221 1.6×10 6 1.4×10 5 1005 755
B 9211 2184 7 160 2.2×10 6 1.7×10 5 798 698
C 20062 3146 9 247 2.7×10 6 1.5×10 5 1041 834
D 20646 3701 8 233 2.9×10 6 1.9×10 5 1218 1103
E 1: the modulus of elasticity of Maxwell unit η 3: the modulus of viscosity of Maxwell unit

procedure during PMA production may affect its per- 1, so the PMA type was considered a reliable com-
formance. Consequently, the volume of polymer added mon factor.
into base asphalt can only serve as a reference, in-
y=ax+b
stead of being an absolute index for performance of
PMA. Although more polymers added into the base y: performance test
asphalt may improve the physical properties of PMA, x: common factor
the microstructure may not be improved substantially. a, b: coefficient
Toughness, defined as the work needed to stretch
the binder till fracture, may be used as an indicator (iii) Single Linear Regression Analysis
of the amount and type of polymer added to the base
asphalt (Wang, 2000; Tsai et al., 2000). Fracture Single linear regression analysis and Spearman
elongations of binders in the toughness tests can gen- rank correlation coefficient (r) were conducted using
erally reach 10 cm. However, it is almost impossible SPSS 9.0 in this study, with a confidence level of
for asphalt concrete pavement, with or without poly- 95%. The sample correlation coefficient (r) was
mer-modified binder, to undergo such a large defor- shown as follows. “x” is the indicator for prediction
mation. This suggests that the contribution of PMA of “y”. The criterion used was 0.7. If the value was
binders’ extra work to asphalt concrete in resisting greater than 0.7, it was presumed to indicate positive
deformation occur while the deformation is small. correlation.
Consequently, toughness as defined in ASTM D5801
n
(1999) may over value information from test results.
Σ
i=1
[(xi – x )(yi – y )]
r= n n
2. Phase II: Correlation Analysis of Physical Test
of PMA and Performance Test of SMA
Σ (xi – x ) 2
i=1
Σ (yi – y ) 2
i=1

(i) Factor Analysis (iv) Result of Single Linear Regression Analysis

Principle Components Analysis (PCA), which
is one kind of factor analysis, was applied to identify
the smallest number of common factors and the most
important factor was found by this method. The common
factor is considered reliable if over 70% of the total
variation can be explained by it, or the eigenvalue is
greater than 1. SPSS 9.0 was used to do a PCA on
the correlation matrix from Table 4 (Sharma, 1996).
(ii) Result of Factor Analysis
According to PCA, the type of PMA is the only
common factor chosen by the SPSS program. The
relationship between the performance test and the
common factor can be explained by the equation listed
below, which explains about 80% of the total varia-
tion. Meanwhile, the eigenvalue was also greater than
Regression analysis was applied to analyze
physical tests of PMA and performance tests of SMA.
The data of the four PMA listed in Table 2 was paired
with the corresponding data of the four SMA in Ta-
ble 4. The results of single linear regression analysis
between physical tests of PMA and performance tests
of SMA are presented in Table 5. It was observed
that no consistent or significant trend due to the per-
formance tests of SMA exists for the softening point
or penetration (25°C). On the other hand, viscosity
(60°C) and toughness of PMA did indicate a positive
correlation with performance tests. Nonetheless, it
was also observed that the correlation coefficient was
smaller than 0.7 between tensile strength of SMA and
viscosity of PMA. The F-test at a level of signifi-
cance of α =0.05 also showed similar results. Corre-
lation coefficients of toughness were all greater than
 J. D. Lin et al.: Modified Toughness Used to Evaluate the Effect of Polymer Modified Asphalt on SMA 1017

Table 5 Correlation coefficients (r) of single linear regression analysis

MR25°C MR40°C TENSILE WORK η 3 (25°C) η 3 (40°C) E 1 (25°C) E 1 (40°C) AVERAGE
Softening point 0.602 0.736 0.580 0.598 0.288 0.903 0.668 0.759 0.642
Penetration, 25°C 0.860 0.598 0.866 0.905 0.662 0.254 0.602 0.237 0.623
Viscosity, 60°C 0.931 0.993 0.602 0.848 0.915 0.857 0.999 0.895 0.880
Toughness 0.992 0.890 0.905 0.998 0.787 0.835 0.869 0.700 0.873

Table 6 Area with different elongation

Elongation 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 11 10 8 6 4 2 0
Type cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm
CAR 281 258 241 212 185 158 134 122 112 90 65 48 27 0
G1 159 159 159 159 159 140 113 101 89 67 48 31 17 0
G2 133 133 133 133 133 133 131 118 105 80 57 37 20 0
U 136 136 136 136 136 136 136 136 119 88 60 37 18 0

before fracture. It is thus assumed that extra fracture

Ultimate work contributed by PMA to SMA may occur while
strength
the deformation is still small. This may further im-
A+B=Toughness B=Tenacity
ply that toughness defined in ASTM D5801 takes
some unnecessary work into consideration. An ap-
A Slope of proach to use modified definition of toughness is thus
Force tenacity
suggested in this study. As shown in Fig. 2, ultimate
strength, effective elongation and slope of tenacity
are proposed as material constants for evaluation of
PMA in this new approach.
B It is assumed that an effective elongation exists
Modified toughness at some specific value, which will exhibit high posi-
tive correlation between calculated toughness and
Elongation performance of SMA. Area under the force-elonga-
Fracture elongation
Effective elongation (assumed by us) tion curve calculated up to this effective elongation
was then defined as the modified toughness. To de-
Fig. 2 Modified toughness and effective elongation rive an appropriate value for the effective elongation,
an increment of 2 cm was regarded as the criterion for
area (or toughness) calculation. An effective area was
0.7. It is thus concluded that toughness of PMA was then calculated as the area under the force-elongation
a better indicator than others. curve up to the current elongation criterion for every
increment (as illustrated in Fig. 2). Table 6 gives a
3. Phase III: Modified Approach for Evaluation of summary of all areas calculated from each elongation
PMA criterion. Single linear regression analyses were then
carried out with these calculated areas for all 4 PMA
(i) Modified Toughness for Evaluation of PMA binders for determination of the effective elongation.

It is easily observed that toughness of CAR was
significantly better than other samples. According
to the results of regression analysis, the performance
tests of SMA using it should be the best. However,
results of the performance tests listed in Table 4 didn’t
fully agree with this induction. The toughness of all
four PMA binders was calculated with fracture length
of PMA, and fracture lengths of these PMA were all
over 10.8 cm. However, it was apparent that SMA
normally could not undergo such large deformations
(ii) Results of Modified Toughness
(1) Ultimate strength of toughness and the slope of
tenacity
The average correlation coefficient (r) calcu-
lated with 8 performance tests and ultimate strength
was 0.672. On the other hand, the average correla-
tion coefficients calculated with 8 performance tests
and the slope was 0.702. These results indicated that
neither ultimate strength of toughness nor the slope
 1018 Journal of the Chiness Institute of Engineers, Vol. 27, No. 7 (2004)
Table 7 Correlation coefficient(r) at elongation of 6.5 cm
MR25°C MR40°C Tensile Work
r 0.964 0.998 0.870 0.895
1 higher at shorter elongation, the mixture will have bet-
0.8
Average correlation cofficient (r)
0.6
y=-4E-00x4+0.0024x3–0.0465x2+0.3566x+0.0322
R2=0.97
0.4
0.2
0 fied toughness of CAR and U were 67.9 kg-cm and
0 5 10 15 20
Elongation (cm)
Fig. 3 A average correlation coefficients at deferent elongation
of tenacity might be good indicators.
(2) Effective elongation of toughness
Figure 3 illustrates the results of regression analy-
sis between area calculated with different elongation
and performance test of SMA. It can be observed
from Table 7 that the average correlation coefficient
of the area calculated with 6.5 cm has the highest value
(0.949), and all other correlation coefficients were
under 0.87. Consequently, the 6.5 cm elongation was
considered as the effective elongation. In other words,
toughness calculated with the effective elongation
should be able to give a more precise evaluation of
the effect of PMA on SMA. In our opinion, the tough-
ness test of ASTM D5801 was a good indicator to
evaluate PMA binders. However, it is suggested that
toughness calculated up to the effective elongation
should be sufficient for evaluation of PMA binders.
(3) Significance of modified toughness in MR, ten-
sile and creep test
Toughness of PMA, tensile strength and MR test
of SMA are all in the category of tensile type
mechanical tests, and the mechanical characteristics of
these tests are somewhat similar. It was observed that
the mixtures, mixed with higher modified toughness
PMA, have higher MR values, tensile strength and work,
so the asphalt binder is the main source of tensile strength
in SMA. If the ability of PMA to resist deformation is
η 3 (25°C) η 3 (40°C) E 1 (25°C) E1 (40°C) Average
0.965 0.983 0.993 0.922 0.949
ter stiffness, tensile strength and work.
Although creep tests are compressive type tests,
PMA is still necessary to ensure integrity of the stone-
by-stone skeleton. In creep tests, tension force actu-
ally exists between PMA and coarse aggregates, so
coarse aggregate and gradation are crucial factors to
resist vertical compression. Thus, the effect of PMA
is to resist deformation and to bind aggregates together.
4. Phase IV: Confirm the Effect of Modified
Toughness by SEM and Rheometer
The results listed in Table 4 show that the per-
formance tests of mixture D (using U type PMA) were
better than others. Meanwhile, the calculated modi-
25 74.7 kg-cm, respectively. Based on these results, it
can be assumed that U type PMA has better micro-
structure and compatibility between asphalt and poly-
mer. To confirm this assumption, FE-SEM observa-
tions and a measurement rheometer were used to fur-
ther evaluate the microstructure of PMA.
(i) Observation of Microstructure
The microstructures of PMA samples were stud-
ied by using the scanning electron micrographs re-
corded with the help of a HITACHINI [Model S–800]
FE-SEM instrument at a 20kV accelerating voltage.
Samples of 2 mm thickness were mounted on a cylin-
drical plate for this test, and, surfaces of the samples
were coated with gold by sputtering under vacuum.
(ii) Observation of FE- SEM Results
Figure 4 illustrates the results from SEM obser-
vations. In the figure, black areas are asphalt; the
white particles are SBS polymer, and, the wrinkly
surfaces are the entanglement between asphalt and
polymer. Comparing all four PMA binders, the
degree of entanglement can be ranked as U>G 2 >G 1>
CAR. This observation showed a trend similar to that
observed from modified toughness values. Conse-
quently, toughness calculated with effective elonga-
tion is considered capable of being an index for the
degree of entanglement or cross-links. Again, the
SEM results showed that cross-link and entanglement
of the U-type PMA are better then the CAR-type
PMA.
 J. D. Lin et al.: Modified Toughness Used to Evaluate the Effect of Polymer Modified Asphalt on SMA 1019

1E+6 1.0E+2

G'
1E+5 7.5E+1

G' (dyne/cm2)

tan (delta)
AC20
1E+4 CAR 5.0E+1
G1
G2 tan (delta)
(a) CAR-type (c) G2-type U

1E+3 G' 2.5E+1

tan (delta)
1E+2 0.0E+0
0.0E+0 5.0E+4 1.0E+5 1.5E+5 2.0E+5
Torque (dyne.cm)

Fig. 5 Torque vs. G′ of PMA and AC-10

(b) G1-type (d) U-type

Fig. 4 Micrograph of PMA

40
AC20
(iii) Analysis of Rheological Analysis CAR
G1
G2
Rheological analysis was carried out using a 30 U
Displacement (rad)

CARRI-MED [Model CSL 500] rheometer. It was

operated in both static and dynamic mode. Samples
were prepared by heating PMA up to 150°C, pressing 20
a liquid drops were pressed in between two plates to
form thin films, and final, scrubbing off the excess
specimen. Thickness of these films was about 200 µm. 10

(iv) Result of Rheological Analysis

Results of rheological analysis are depicted in 0

Figs. 5 and 6. In our opinion, G’ would be increased
with good crosslink and entanglement between as-
phalt and polymer. The deformation form creep tests
would also be decreased. It was observed that U had
better microstructure to resist deformation than CAR.
The result had the same trend as modified toughness.
It was thus demonstrated that the calculation of tough-
ness with effective elongation is a promising charac-
teristic to use in evaluating PMA.
IV. PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF
MODIFIED TOUGHNESS
Four representative PMAs were used to evalu-
ate their effect on the performance of SMAs. The
correlation between toughness of PMAs and perform-
ance of SMAs were statistically explored. The cor-
relations between the performance of SMAs and tough-
ness calculated with fracture elongation (ASTM D5801,
1999) were not significant. However, correlations were
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (sec)
Fig. 6 Creep compliance of PMA and AC-10
significantly improved using the modified toughness
calculated as effective elongation (6.5 cm). Consid-
ering the results of FE-SEM and Rheological analy-
ses, the modified toughness of PMA could be used as
the index for physical cross linking or chain entan-
glement. The physical significances of modified tough-
ness were shown as follows:
1. The modified toughness had high potential to be an
important index between polymer and base asphalt
on physical cross linking or chain entanglement.
2. The modified toughness could be the work or ca-
pacity of PMAs needed to resist deformation until
failure occurs.
 1020 Journal of the Chiness Institute of Engineers, Vol. 27, No. 7 (2004)
Because of limited budget, only four PMAs were
studied. More PMAs are expected to yield more ac-
curate results. More Rheological analyses and FE-
SEM (or TEM) observations will be useful to rein-
force the physical significance and interpretation of
modified toughness.
V. CONCLUSION
1. Effective elongation of toughness test was pro-
posed and confirmed to be a useful material prop-
erty. According to the results of correlation analy-
sis, it was observed that elongation of 6.5cm could
be a good representative of effective elongation.
The correlation of modified toughness and per-
formance test of SMA are of significance.
2. When conditions of aggregate, gradation and fiber
are fixed, higher modified toughness value of PMA
indicates higher stiffness of SMA in the MR test.
Moreover, higher modified toughness implies that
PMA can provide more work to resist heavy traf-
fic on SMA. In static creep test, modified tough-
ness can be used to predict modulus of elasticity
and viscosity of SMA. In other words, modified
toughness was useful to evaluate the effect of PMA
on SMA.
3. Integrity of the coarse aggregate skeleton is the most
important factor of performance of SMA. PMA is
needed to ensure the structural integrity of SMA.
Modified toughness in this study is concluded to
be able to predict the performance of SMA. That
is, modified toughness serves as a scalar for evalu-
ation of ability of SMA to resist deformation.
4. Without the use of expensive and complicated test-
ing instruments, microstructure of polymer-modi-
fied asphalt may be better correlated by using modified
toughness. Further study is suggested on this topic.
REFERENCES
Asphalt Institute, 1995, Superpave Level 1 Mix De-
sign, Superpave Series, No. 2 (SP-2), Lexington,
KY, USA, pp. 14-45.
ASTM D4123, 1999, “Standard Test Method for In-
direct Tension for Resilient Modulus of Bitumi-
nous Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Section
.4, USA, Vol. 04.03, pp. 409-411.
ASTM D5801, 1999, “Standard Test Method for
Toughness and Tenacity of Bituminous Materi-
als” Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Section 4,
ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, USA,
Vol.04.03, pp. 621-624.
ASTM D5840, 1999, “Standard Specification for Type
II Polymer Modified Cement for Use in Pavement
construction” Annual Book of ASTM Standards,
Section 4, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, USA,
View publication stats
Vol. 04.03, pp. 628-629.
Benson, J. R., 1955, Road and Engineering Construc-
tion, pp. 78-84.
Brown, E. R., 1999, “Designing Stone Matrix Asphalt
Mixtures for Rut-Resistant,” National Coopera-
tive Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Re-
port 425, National Center for Asphalt technology
(NCAT), AL, US, pp. 14-25
Jiang, L. B., 1991, “Product and Specification of Bi-
tumen,” Proceedings of the 1991 Taiwan Pave-
ment Conference, Taiwan, pp. 1-1~1-28.
Jiang, L. B., and Lin, J. D., 1993, “Introduction to
Polymer Used in Pavement,” Proceedings of the
7th National Con-ference on Pavement Engineer-
ing Symposium, Taiwan, pp. 85-90.
Kennepohl, G. J., and Davison, J. K., 1992, “Intro-
duction to Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) in On-
tario,” Journal of Association Asphalt Pavement
Technologists (AAPT), Vol. 61, pp. 517-534.
Lin, J. D., 1992, “An Evaluation on Asphalt Cement
and Asphalt Concrete,” Proceedings of 1992 Tai-
wan pavement conference, Taiwan, pp. 91-94.
Liu, S. I., 1996, “The Study of Porous Asphalt Con-
crete Performance,” Master Thesis, Department
of Civil Engineering National Central University,
Taoyuan, Taiwan, pp. 7-12.
Sao, L. H., 1994, “Study on Performance of SMA,”
Master Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering,
National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan,
pp. 27-29.
Scherocmam, J. A., 1992, “Construction of SMA Test
Sections in the US,” Journal of Association As-
phalt Pavement Technologists (AAPT), Vol. 61,
pp. 642-664.
Sharma, S., 1996, Applied Multivariate Techniques, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, USA, pp. 58-93.
Tan, J. C., 1996, “An Evaluation on Performance of
Different Gradation Asphalt Concrete by Using
the SHRP Gyratory Compactor,” Master Thesis,
Department of Civil Engineering National Cen-
tral University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, pp. 20-22.
Tsai, P. A., Chen, W. C., and Chen, J. S., 2000, Final
Report on Establishing Relationships between
Fundamental Asphalt Properties and Flexible
Pavement Distresses (II), MOTC-STA-89-018,
Office of Science and Technology Advisors. Min-
istry of Transportation and Communications, Tai-
wan, pp. 5_26-5_27.
Wang, J. M., 2000, “The Study of Polymer Modified
Asphalt,” Master Thesis, Department of Civil En-
gineering National Central University, Taoyuan,
Taiwan, pp. 30-31.
Manuscript Received: May 02, 2002
Revision Received: Feb. 28, 2004
and Accepted: Apr. 06, 2004