This paper examines the merits of using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in bitumen to improve short and long-term aging of bituminous composites used in roadway constructions. A concern with PET is its low compatibility with bitumen leading to its segregation; here, we functionalized PET with waste cooking oil to enhance its compatibility with bitumen. We then studied the efficacy of functionalized PET to delay aging in bituminous composites. To do so, PET particles treated with waste vegetable oil and non-treated PET particles were separately blended into bitumen using a high-shear mixer and aged in the laboratory using a rolling thin film oven (RTFO) and a pressure aging vessel (PAV). The rheological and chemical changes that occurred with aging were captured by a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results showed that binders containing PET had high resistance to aging as measured by their low change in activation energy and healing index after exposure to extended aging. Functionalized PET referred to as “Oil-treated PET” here, has proven efficiency in reducing aging effects, as indicated by lower values of the aging indexes. Oil-treated PET-modified binders lost 15.6% of their healing capacity after long-term aging whereas neat binders lost almost 66%. The outcome of this study exploits the synergy between two waste streams including waste vegetable oil and waste plastics to produce a sustainable modifier for roadway construction to extend their service life while promoting resource conservation and recycling.

本文研究了在沥青中使用回收的聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 以改善道路施工中使用的沥青复合材料的短期和长期老化的优点。PET 的一个问题是它与沥青的相容性低，导致其离析；在这里，我们用废食用油对 PET 进行了功能化，以增强其与沥青的相容性。然后，我们研究了功能化 PET 延迟沥青复合材料老化的功效。为此，使用高剪切混合器将用废植物油处理过的 PET 颗粒和未处理过的 PET 颗粒分别混合到沥青中，并在实验室中使用滚动薄膜烘箱 (RTFO) 和压力老化容器 (PAV) 进行老化. 通过动态剪切流变仪 (DSR) 和傅里叶变换红外 (FTIR) 光谱仪捕获随着老化发生的流变和化学变化。结果表明，含有 PET 的粘合剂具有很高的抗老化能力，这是通过长期老化后活化能和愈合指数的低变化来衡量的。此处称为“油处理 PET”的功能化 PET 已被证明可有效减少老化效应，这由较低的老化指数值表明。经过油处理的 PET 改性粘合剂在长期老化后失去了 15.6% 的愈合能力，而纯粘合剂失去了近 66%。