Evaluation of Moisture Susceptibility of Warm Mix Asphalt with MMLS3

Various environmental problems by global warming have caused a great interest in warm-mix asphalt (WMA) technology in the world. WMA technology provides various environmental benefits. For example, the production and compaction temperatures are dropped using WMA technology; thus gas emissions and odors from asphalt plants are also reduced. Based on these various benefits and technological awareness of WMA, the Korea Institute of Construction Technology (KICT) has developed a new WMA technology. The new technology applies wax-type WMA additives that were developed by Kumho Petrochemical Co. This paper deals with simulating moisture related-distresses among various laboratory tests using these WMA additives. KICT constructed pilot test sections to compare field performance between a hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixture as a control mix, and WMA mixture. The WMA sections using two different additives were produced and compacted approximately 30°C lower than temperatures applied at the control section. With these samples, a laboratory test using the model mobile load simulator (MMLS3) was conducted to investigate the moisture related-distresses of each section sample, which measures rutting profiles, surface texture and mixture weight loss. In the limited test results, the WMA samples showed slightly less weight loss than the HMA sample did after the simulation by the MMLS3.