Research: Chemical, mechanical, and rheological characterization of bituminous conglomerates with high RAP content and additives
PhD student in Infrastructure and Transportation. Civil Engineer with postgraduate in Pavement Engineering and Senior Project Management. His research interests focus on asphalt materials, bitumen aging mechanisms, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), and sustainable pavement engineering. His doctoral research, entitled "Chemical, Mechanical, and Rheological Characterization of High-RAP Bituminous Mixtures Modified with Chemical Additives," adopts an integrated experimental methodology combining mechanical, chemical, supramolecular, and microstructural characterization through advanced analytical techniques. This approach enables the evaluation of the influence of chemical additives on binder rheological response, oxidation processes, asphaltene supramolecular organization, and surface microstructure evolution, with the aim of optimizing the performance and durability of asphalt mixtures incorporating high contents of recycled materials.
RESEARCH TOPIC
The research aims to evaluate the influence of different chemical additives on the physical-chemical and rheological behavior of bituminous mixtures with high recycled material (RAP) content—up to 50%—through an integrated experimental approach divided into the following phases. 1)
Verify the effectiveness of different additives through a physical-structural analysis aimed at highlighting the effectiveness of their chemical action on the aged binder. 2) Determine the optimal content of additives, considering criteria of performance and durability of the material. 3) Physically and chemically characterize the components recovered from RAP (bitumen and aggregates), assessing their degree of aging and compatibility with the selected additives. 4) Design bituminous mixtures with different percentages of RAP (up to 50%), incorporating regenerating and fluxing additives, and comparatively evaluate their physical-mechanical and rheological behavior with respect to traditional mixtures.
The study involves chemical tests to characterize the additives (regenerating and fluxing) in accordance with UNI EN 11837, as well as mechanical tests on bituminous mixtures, aimed at an overall assessment of the performance of recycled material containing RAP.