Incidencia de la adición de polímeros en los hormigones asfálticos convencionales mezclados en planta para vías en el cantón Ambato, provincia de Tungurahua

Abstract

The objective of this experimental work was to elaborate asphalt mixtures with the addition of polymers (Polyethylene Terephthalate PET, Polypropylene PP separately and together), in this case plastic bottles and caps were used respectively, which were obtained through the recycling process. Stony material obtained from the JEAL Construcciones asphalt plant located in the Ambato canton was used to make asphalt briquettes based on the Marshall Method for the Design of Bituminous Asphalt Mixtures with its standard ASTM D 1559 to evaluate its incidence against conventional asphalt briquettes. First, tests were performed on the coarse and fine aggregates, respectively, according to the specifications of the standards in force. Subsequently, 15 conventional briquettes were made with different percentages of asphalt cement from 5 to 7 with intervals of 0.5. After testing these briquettes, the optimum percentage of asphalt was determined, with which 3 briquettes were made with the addition of PET, PP and PET-PET polymers with percentages of 1,3,6 and 9 respectively, added to the asphalt mix as a partial replacement of the fine aggregate. Finally, a comparative analysis of the properties of the conventional and modified asphalt mixes was carried out, determining that the modified asphalt mix is an alternative, which gave positive results in relation to the load, i.e., stability. However, in relation to flow or deformation and percentage of voids, it showed high levels of deformation