Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024

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Construction and Building Materials

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Review

Pavement engineering materials: Review on the use of warm-mix asphalt

S.D. Capitão a,⇑, L.G. Picado-Santos b, F. Martinho c,d
a
Department of Civil Engineering, ISEC – Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and IST-CESUR, Rua Pedro Nunes, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal
b
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Instituto Superior Técnico – Technical University of Lisbon (IST-CESUR), Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
c
FM Consulting, Tomar, Portugal
d
IST - Technical University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

h i g h l i g h t s

" Although WMA technologies have benefits comparing to HMA they have some drawbacks.
" Mix design procedures used for WMA with additives can be similar to those used for HMA.
" Although paving conditions are adverse, performance of WMA is generally acceptable.
" The construction process is generally easy for WMA produced with additives.
" A conclusion about LCCA is not possible yet as long-term performance of WMA is unknown.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Warm asphalt mixtures have been used worldwide aiming at saving energy and reducing emissions
Received 24 February 2012 throughout the production process, without decreasing the in-service performance. This has been
Received in revised form 15 May 2012 achieved with wax additives, chemical additives and foaming techniques. Benefits and drawbacks are
Accepted 4 June 2012
mentioned in the literature for each process. This paper is a review of the main aspects involved in
Available online 2 August 2012
WMA technology, including constituent materials, mix design and mechanical performance issues, as
well as technological specificities. Some discussion associated to life-cycle analysis is also considered.
Keywords:
In the view of the literature review, it can be stated that WMA is a very interesting technology, able to
Additives
Asphalt pavements
contribute to achieve environmental objectives along with acceptable performance. WMA processes
Fatigue resistance themselves require some additional complexity that must be considered by the players involved.
Foam bitumen Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hot-mix asphalt
Life-cycle analysis
Mix design
Rutting
Stiffness modulus
Warm-mix asphalt

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
2. Benefits and drawbacks of WMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
2.1. Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
2.2. Drawbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
3. Main mechanisms involved in temperature reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
3.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
3.2. Organic additives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
3.3. Chemical additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
3.4. Foamed bitumen technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018
4. Laboratory design of warm asphalt mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
4.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
4.2. Mix design particularities for additive technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +351 239 790 200; fax: +351 239 790 201.
E-mail address: capitao@isec.pt (S.D. Capitão).

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.06.038
 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024 1017

4.3. Mix design particularities for foamed bitumen technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020

5. Mechanical performance of warm asphalt mixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
5.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
5.2. Water sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
5.3. Stiffness modulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021
5.4. Resistance to fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021
5.5. Resistance to low temperature fracture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021
5.6. Resistance to permanent deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
6. Guidance on mixing, laying and compaction of warm asphalt mixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
7. Comparison between life-cycle cost analysis of WMA and HMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
8. Summary and conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

1. Introduction
Over the last two decades, the production and appliance of as-
phalt mixtures have been improving, particularly to achieve eco-
nomic and environmental objectives. Recently, the improvement
has paid more attention to the reduction of energy consumption
throughout the process, without changing the in-service mechani-
cal performance of these asphalt mixtures.
There is a growing international pressure on the reduction of
fossil fuels consumption and the emission of greenhouse effect
gases (GHG), such as CO2 (carbon dioxide).
Unfortunately, the production of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) for
pavements is to blame for a significant percentage of the energy
consumption and the release of pollutant gases. This is a conse-
quence of drying and heating mineral aggregates, and bitumen at
temperatures above 140 °C.
If a significant temperature decrease could be achieved within
the production practice of asphalt mixtures, while the workability
of the material is adequate and mechanical performance attained is
the same as or even better than HMA, the gain for the environment
and the society in general would be significant.
Therefore, the scientific and technical community have devel-
oped a number of new technologies for asphalt materials, generally
referred to as warm mix asphalt (WMA), which require lower pro-
duction temperature. As a result, since these technologies spend
less energy than traditional HMA, they significantly contribute to
the aforementioned objectives.
There is a wide range of usage temperatures within the WMA
family. PIARC [1] and EAPA [2], among others, have stated that
WMA are generally produced in a temperature range from 100 to
140 °C, while half-warm mix asphalt (HWMA) are fabricated be-
tween 70 and 100 °C. The temperature decrease is around 30 °C
for the first case and can attain up to 80 °C for the second case.
At the present time, there are a number of available technolo-
gies to fabricate WMA and there are others in progress. In addition,
according to the literature [1–5], the WMA technologies promise
several benefits compared to HMA, which can be grouped in three
categories: environmental, production and paving, and economic.
There are also a few drawbacks to point out to WMA.
The main goal of this paper is to make a review on the aspects
associated with WMA, involving laboratory mix design, production
technologies, laying and compaction procedures. A revision of the
mechanical performance of WMA and a balance between the advan-
tages and drawbacks of this type of asphalt mixtures, together with
a discussion on WMA life-cycle analysis (LCA) is also carried out.
2. Benefits and drawbacks of WMA
2.1. Benefits
Taking into account the lower temperatures applied in WMA
technologies, a number of environmental benefits can be expected.
Most of them have been observed directly in the European coun-
tries [5,6] and in the USA [4].
A significant reduction on pollutant and GHG emissions has
been reported. Depending on the WMA technology used, emissions
declared in the literature have some variation. Nevertheless, irre-
spective of the WMA production process, a significant reduction
of emissions is observed. Evaluations carried out in a number of
European countries [2,5], for instance, made it clear the decreasing
of various emissions throughout the production process in plant, as
follows: 30–40% for CO2 (carbon dioxide) and SO2 (sulfur dioxide),
50% for VOC (volatile organic compounds), 10–30% for CO (carbon
monoxide), 60–70% for NOx (nitrous oxides), and 25–55% for dust.
Reductions from 30% to 50% for asphalt aerosols/fumes and polycy-
clic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have also been reported, which
have a substantial influence on the exposure of the workers and
the surrounding area of construction sites to those products.
Since operating temperature and emissions are lower, it is eas-
ier for plants to be allowed in the proximity of urban areas. In addi-
tion, in cold weather, when applying WMA techniques with hard
bitumen, such as higher asphalt recycling rates or high modulus
asphalt, the material workability is better as the viscosity of the
stiff binder decreases and the drop of temperature with time is less
important. This also allows higher haulage distances, reduces the
risk of compaction troubles and requires less time to cool the laid
material before opening it to traffic or to place the next layer [3,4].
Lowering the production temperature allows reducing the en-
ergy consumption up to 35%, or more, depending on the WMA pro-
cess applied [5] and on how much the temperature is reduced [4].
The associated cost will decrease accordingly. In a scenario of en-
ergy price rising, the cost saving can be far more interesting,
depending on the amount of temperature reduction. However, a
number of WMA processes require initial investment to modify
the layout of the plant, whereas some of them require permanent
purchase of additives. Therefore, the cost examination must also
consider the analysis of this type of issue [3].
Compared to cold asphalt mixtures (CAM), the WMA technol-
ogy is also beneficial because it does not need curing time before
opening up to traffic and does not require a sealing layer as for
some of the CAM applications. In addition, the laying and compac-
tion operations, and the coating of aggregates by the binder are
better than for CAM, leading to a better in-service material [4].
2.2. Drawbacks
As reported in the literature, the number of testing sites and
projects where WMA has been used is already significant. How-
ever, there still remain a number of challenges to overcome [3,4].
There are some concerns related to WMA cost in its whole life-
cycle, as the technologies available for WMA generally increase the
initial production cost [4]. On the one hand, this can be connected
to the additional equipment needed for plants, allowing the use of
specific technologies or additives. On the other hand, the use of
1018 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024
additives brings some supplementary cost, which could be only
partially compensated by lowering the operating temperature
[4,5].
Furthermore, there is some danger that some of the environ-
mental advantages recognized to WMA could be offset by the car-
bon emissions related to the production of additives [3].
Since there is not enough experience yet on long-term perfor-
mance of WMA, the technologies widespread can face some strug-
gle, unless the governments establish more severe environmental
regulations or WMA grant clear construction and characteristics
benefits [7].
Some authors [3,4] refer to concerns related to in-service mois-
ture susceptibility of WMA associated to the reduced optimum
binder content derived, for instance, from volumetric mix design
procedures. Moreover, the generally good workability of some
WMA products, resulting in a lowered void content compared to
conventional HMA, together with a less oxidative hardening of
the binder throughout the production process, can increase the
in-service rutting potential of some WMA products, despite that
it can also conduct to an increased durability.
3. Main mechanisms involved in temperature reduction
3.1. Overview
Some of the WMA technologies involve a temporary or perma-
nent adjustment of various bitumen properties, such as viscosity,
for instance. In a number of technologies the adhesion between
binder and aggregate particles is chemically adjusted to improve
the way mineral aggregates are coated by bitumen. When surfac-
tants are also included they will act at the microscopic interface
of aggregates and bitumen, reducing friction at that interface,
allowing lower mixing and compaction temperatures. There are
also techniques that introduce water into the process aiming to im-
prove temporarily the workability of the asphalt mixture.
Despite the huge number of reported WMA technologies found in the
literature, they can be, basically, classified in three main groups [2,3,8]:
organic additives, chemical additives and foaming technologies.
The main goals of the most part of the processes involved in
WMA is lowering production and handling temperatures of the
mixture, as well as achieving the same, or even better, in-service
performance compared to HMA. The diversity of features related
to the known technologies allows adjusting the production process
to the available raw materials. Obviously, this requires a careful
evaluation of the aspects involved before the application of a spe-
cific technology in a real project.
3.2. Organic additives
The use of organic additives is accomplished by adding an or-
ganic wax to bitumen or blending it to asphalt concrete mixtures,
reducing the viscosity of the binder. Since the binder is at a high
temperature, this phenomenon is maintained throughout the mix-
ing and compaction procedures. When the asphalt cools, the addi-
tive crystallises, forming a lattice structure of microscopic
particles, increasing the binder stiffness and its resistance to defor-
mation [3,10]. This type of additives is generally formed by a long
chain of hydrocarbon atoms, which is solid at room temperature
and has a melting point generally around 100 °C [3,9].
The most common commercial products available, such as Sas-
obitÒ [10,11], are produced from natural gas using the so-called
Fisher–Tropsch (FT) process [3,9,10]. Nevertheless, there are a
few additional references about the alternative organic additives,
such as the following examples: Asphaltan-B, which is a blend of
wax obtained by solvent extraction from lignite or brown coal
(Montan wax) and fatty-acid amides [4,5]; Thiopave™, which is a
technology that uses a sulphur-enhanced additive patented by
Shell [12,13].
Based on the literature review, it can be stated that using organ-
ic additives allows a mixing temperature reduction of asphalt
about 20–30 °C [3,5], although slightly different values, below
and above this range, can also be found [4,9].
3.3. Chemical additives
Different types of chemical additives are reported in the litera-
ture within the WMA technology. In a few cases, additives are
formed by a package of products such as surfactants, emulsifica-
tion agents, aggregate coating enhancers and anti-stripping addi-
tives. Chemical additives are usually added to the binder during
the production process, although there are also techniques in
which the package of products is used by means of a bituminous
emulsion [3,4].
Rediset™ WMX and CecabaseÒ RT, for instance, are both chem-
ical additives referred to in the literature as product packages
formed by surfactant and adhesion agents, among other compo-
nents. Those types of products chemically enhance active adhesion
and improve the wetting of aggregates by bitumen without chang-
ing considerably the binder performance [14–16].
The American technology commercially called Evotherm™ is a
typical case wherein a package of additives is used in a form of emul-
sion [17,18]. Since the aggregates are heated before mixing, the
water within the emulsion vaporizes during the production process
and the binder covers the aggregate particles. Meanwhile, the initial
technology has evolved: firstly, to a process in which chemical addi-
tives are introduced into the plant’s binder line (Evotherm Dispersed
Additive Technology), incorporating much less water than with
emulsion; recently, to a third generation process (Evotherm 3G),
which is a water-free WMA technique, where the additive is incorpo-
rated into bitumen before its deliver to asphalt plants [17].
As stated in the bibliography, chemical additives may reduce
the mix and compaction temperatures around 30 °C [2,16,19].
3.4. Foamed bitumen technologies
A large number of foaming methods are referred to in the liter-
ature [2,3,5,8], and most of them are proprietary. Bitumen foam is
generally obtained by adding a small amount of cold pulverised
water into preheated bitumen [20,21]. The water vaporises and
the liberated steam is encapsulated within bitumen, resulting in
a temporary expansion of its volume together with a reduction of
its viscosity [3,20]. The expanded volume gradually decays with
time and the bitumen reverts to its original characteristics. This
phenomenon promotes a better distribution of the binder within
the asphalt mixture [7].
After foamed bitumen is obtained, it can be mixed-together
with aggregate at an ambient temperature. Alternatively, aggre-
gate can be previously heated at a moderate temperature (under
100 °C) to improve some properties of asphalt mixtures [21].
Lower production temperatures are allowed as workability of
mixture and coating of the aggregate particles are temporarily im-
proved. Despite the main mechanism involved among those tech-
niques basically being the same, some differences can be pointed
out in-between them [8,17].
The water required to the foaming process can lead to stripping
troubles. In fact, as reported by Van de Ven et al. [20], throughout
the mixing action the foamed bitumen collapses to its original
state, and the bitumen rather sticks to the fine fractions of aggre-
gates than to coarse particles. Since only a part of bitumen beads
connects to high dimension particles, usually it is advisable to
use adhesion or coating promoters (chemical additives) to improve
 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024
the covering of aggregates by bitumen and reduce water sensitivity
of the asphalt mixtures [3,20].
Foamability is a term sometimes applied to grade qualitatively
the process within a specific technique or related to a bitumen
source. The expansion ratio of the binder and its half-life (time in
seconds needed to reduce 50% the maximum volume obtained
after expansion), just to mention a few, are two important param-
eters used to evaluate the process [21].
Some authors subcategorise the foam technologies into two
groups: water based and water containing [3]. In the first case,
the water is introduced into the process by means of a specific
equipment to generate foam. In the second case, the blend incorpo-
rates a finely crushed synthetic zeolite (a crystalline hydrated alu-
minium silicate), which contains about 20% of water trapped in its
structure. When the product is heated above a determined temper-
ature (85 °C in the case of Aspha-minÒ, for instance [4,22,23]) the
water is released as steam, generating foam bitumen [8,22,23].
Processes that add small amounts of water to the mix, such as zeo-
lite or damp aggregates, release a small amount of steam compared
to processes that inject water directly into hot bitumen. Therefore,
in the first case the expansion of the binder phase is much lower
than the achieved for water based processes [8].
Among the different techniques found in the literature to inject
water into the process, Low Energy Asphalt (LEA) [4,5,21] and
WAM Foam [4,5,21,23] justify additional comments as the used
procedures are different in some extent.
In the LEA process coarse aggregate is heated to usual temper-
atures used for HMA and blended to hot bitumen, which generally
incorporates a coating and adhesion promoter. In the second stage,
the process receives wet fine aggregates not submitted to heating.
The moisture is then liberated as steam and leads to the production
of foaming bitumen, rapidly encapsulating fine aggregates. The
temperature of the mix suddenly reduces at this moment as part
of the energy is spent to vaporise the moisture [4,5].
WAM-Foam™ is also a 2-phase mixing technique, wherein two
different bitumen grades, a soft bitumen and a hard bitumen are
blended with the aggregate. The soft binder is generally around
20–30% of the total binder content. In the first phase, a soft binder
is used to completely coat the coarse aggregate. In the second
stage, a hard binder is foamed onto the pre-coated aggregate [17].
The reduction on mixing and compaction temperatures
achieved can vary to some extent depending on the foaming pro-
cess used, as reported hereafter: the majority of water based pro-
cesses can achieve production temperatures 20–30 °C lower than
conventional HMA [2,4]; techniques that incorporates zeolite reach
reductions around 30 °C [2]; WAM-foam™ producers claim that it
can be compacted below 90 °C and mixed in the range 100–
120 °C [4,5]; LEA has been produced in a temperature range of
100–125 °C [4].
4. Laboratory design of warm asphalt mixes
4.1. Overview
A significant part of the recent mix design methods carried out
in Europe and in the United States of America to design HMA in-
volves a number of steps, aimed to cover the following topics:
selection of materials, study of volumetric properties of the mix-
ture and selection of binder content, the evaluation of some addi-
tional parameters, such as workability, water sensitivity, coating,
compactability, and assessment of mechanical performance of
the mixture [3,17,24]. When the asphalt mixtures’ compositions
are well-known, the process can be simplified.
Based on the literature review, it can be stated that the majority
of WMA studies carried out has used mix design processes similar
1019
to those of HMA. For instance, the Superpave (AASHTO R 35) is
commonly applied in the USA [25] whereas the Marshall method
(EN 12697-34:2004 + A1 and EN 13108-1:2006), among other
European methods, such as the French one [26], were usually car-
ried out in Europe.
Asphalt mixtures (HMA or WMA) design based on gyratory
compaction, uses some parameters for evaluating the ease of com-
paction. This is achieved by measuring the number of gyrations
needed to reach specific volumetric properties, such as voids con-
tent, or by calculating some indexes associated to the compaction
energy, which are obtained from the densification curve. These
evaluations allow comparing the compaction of one mixture to an-
other and the densification produced by traffic [27].
However, there are a few studies [17,21] where a laboratory
foaming plant, such as the Wirtgen WLB10Ò, was used. In those
cases, the complexity of the process is higher, requiring the control
of various working aspects, which are crucial within the mix design
process. The amount of foamant water added, the air flow control
and the discharge ratio of bitumen from the nozzle, for instance,
are some of the practical concerns pointed out in NCHRP report
691 [17]. Moreover, the specific equipments developed are not
widespread in laboratories neither are they able to simulate all
types of available foaming technologies [21].
The use of WMA additives is also likely to bring some supplemen-
tary problems as the amount of additives to incorporate is very low,
increasing the difficulties to disperse them homogeneously within
the bitumen or in the mix [17]. If reclaimed asphalt pavement
(RAP) or by-products are incorporated into the mix, the complexity
of the process is also higher, as problems related to binder absorp-
tion and blending of the new and recycled binders can arise [17].
Apart from the aforementioned particular features pointed out,
the methodologies used for the selection of aggregates and bitu-
men, production of specimens and measurement of various proper-
ties of compacted mixes are similar to those used for HMA [17]. The
draft appendix to AASHTO R 35 – special mixture design consider-
ations and methods for warm mix asphalt (WMA) – published in
Appendix A of the NCHRP report 691 [17], indicates a number of
procedures to consider when designing WMA in laboratory by the
American method. The next subsection highlights some specific
features involved in designing WMA reported in the literature.
4.2. Mix design particularities for additive technologies
Additives are usually solid at ambient temperature and, hence,
they are provided in the form of pastilles or pellets [8,10,15,16].
Some of them are also available as liquids but usually with a short-
er period of validity. The intended process of incorporating the
additives at real scale production must be as much as possible fol-
lowed in the mix design methodology [8].
Generally, for mix design purposes, additives are pre-blended a
few seconds with the heated bitumen by means of a low-shear
mixer apparatus before mixing with aggregates. In some cases they
can be added to the mixture in the mixing bowl, just after addition
of the bitumen [8]. When a pre-blended form of binder is supplied,
it can be used instead of blending the additive in the laboratory.
Usually, additive suppliers recommend the amount of product
to add to the mixture. Table 1 summarises the recommended
quantity of additives found in the literature.
For additives that change the binder’s viscosity, such as Sas-
obitÒ, the mixing temperature reduction can be derived from the
evolution of the additive’s dynamic viscosity with temperature,
as performed by Silva et al. [28]. The chosen temperature is the
one that matches the target viscosity (0.2 Pa.s, for instance), in
other words the temperature allowing satisfactory workability.
If additives used have a small influence on the binder’s viscos-
ity, as it happens usually with chemical additives [14–16,19], the
1020 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024

Table 1 5. Mechanical performance of warm asphalt mixes

Recommended amount of some available WMA additives.

Additive Addition rate range Typical addition rate 5.1. Overview

Organic additives
Astec PERÒ 0.5–0.75% by total weight – The literature reports that WMA technologies have been used to
of RAP (only for high levels produce a variety of asphalt mixtures, such as dense-graded as-
of RAP) [8]
phalt concrete [15,19,27], polymer-modified asphalt [29], stone
Asphaltan-B 2–4% by weight of the total 2.5% by weight of binder [5]
binder [4] mastic asphalt (SMA) [3], crumb rubber modified (CRM) asphalt
SasobitÒ 0.8–4% by weight of the 1.5% by weight of the total concrete [29], asphalt concrete incorporating RAP [30], among oth-
total binder [8] binder [8] ers. As a result, the mechanical properties of WMA can vary in a
SonneWarmix™ 0.5–1.5% by weight of the 0.75% – maximum large range depending on the specific WMA technique applied as
total binder [8] recommended for
well as the type of material fabricated.
unmodified, virgin mixes
[8] As in the case of HMA, water sensitivity, stiffness modulus,
resistance to cracking and permanent deformation of WMA varies
Chemical additives
CecabaseÒRT 0.3–0.5% by weight of – with the type of mixture as well as with some of the composition’s
binder [8,19] parameters. Obviously, testing conditions, such as temperature and
Rediset™ WMX 1.5–2.5% by weight of – loading characteristics, also have a significant influence on the ob-
binder [8,16]
served performance. Therefore, what is stressed in the following
Evotherm™ About 5% of diluted –
chemical package by
points is the general tendency of WMA’s mechanical performance
weight of binder [8] variation as compared to a similar HMA.
The following points present a summary concerning the main
mechanical properties usually evaluated on WMA and compare
the observed mechanical performance with that of control mix-
production temperature cannot be viscosity based. In these cases it tures generally used as reference.
can be estimated from the progress of specimens’ air voids content
during the laboratory compaction procedure. The specimens’
height must be recorded along compaction in order to verify if 5.2. Water sensitivity
the target air void content is achieved. Generally, this is possible
either for impact (according to EN 12697-30: 2004 + A1:2007) Some asphalt mixtures suffer a substantial reduction of resis-
[19] and gyratory compaction procedures (according to AASHTO tance over the years in the presence of water. This phenomenon is
T 312 or EN 12697-31: 2007) [17] as it happens within the Mar- known as water sensitivity or water damage. The loss of mechanical
shall and Superpave methods, respectively. performance is due to the failure of the binder-aggregate interface
and/or the cohesion within the binder–filler mastic [31]. A deeper
4.3. Mix design particularities for foamed bitumen technologies discussion on all the phenomena involved can be found in Caro et
al. [32]. In general, the material’s degradation happens because
Since the production of water based foamed bitumen in the lab- there is a lack of electrochemical affinity between the binder and
oratory is rather difficult, sometimes conventional HMA mix de- the aggregate surface. In the case of WMA, since the aggregates
sign procedures are used as a support to preliminary mix design are not completely dry before contacting with the binder, the mois-
of WMA [3]. Obviously, in these cases the laboratory mix design ture left behind during the construction process can also increase
process is not satisfactory as no foamed bitumen is produced. the water susceptibility of asphalt mixtures.
Therefore, pilot WMA produced in plant can be used to compact Therefore, additives such as surfactants act as a bridge between
specimens in order to carry out further evaluation in the laboratory the asphalt binder and the aggregate surface, promoting adhesion
for mix design completion. and resisting the action of water. This is generally achieved since
Zeolite foaming technologies are generally easier to reproduce the additive molecules have polarised extremities whose charges
in the laboratory for mix design purposes because the powder is attract the opposite charge of the other material, allowing them
added as a granular component. In the case of AdveraÒ WMA, for to bind to the aggregate surface and also being compatible with
instance, 0.15–0.30% by the total weight of mix is usually pre- the asphalt binder [33]. Adhesion promoters can also coat large
blended with hot binder prior to mixing in a mechanical mixer. As- amounts of fine aggregates or dusts since they reduce the surface
pha-minÒ, also used as synthetic zeolite, is added at a rate of 0.3% tension at the binder-aggregate interface [34].
by the total weight of mix. It is usually incorporated in the mixture Kim et al. [35] concluded that although the field performance
at the same time as the heated bitumen. Zeolite should not be data indicated that both WMA and HMA show similar perfor-
heated prior to mixing with hot bitumen to avoid releasing the mance, field performance must be careful examined over the in-
internal moisture earlier than needed [8]. service life of the pavement. This must be done because moisture
A comprehensive analysis of the features involved within the damage can occur as a consequence of rutting and/or cracking
laboratorial production of foamed bitumen is beyond the scope development.
of this paper. However, this type of study can be found in Jenkins Water sensitivity of WMA is generally assessed by the proce-
[21] who has studied a significant number of parameters that influ- dures described in EN 12697-12 and AASHTO T 283. Tensile
ence the foaming characteristics and, hence, are crucial to control strength ratio (TSR) is the control parameter measured on com-
the mix design process and the production of WMA by foaming pacted specimens, which are divided in two groups. One of them
technologies. is formed by specimens submitted to a specific water conditioning
The NCHRP report 691 [17] states that batches of foam bitumen procedure and the other is the control group formed by dry sam-
produced in a specific equipment in the laboratory should be larger ples. Amongst the various types of WMA, tensile strength generally
than needed for individual specimens production. Indeed, to increases as the compaction temperature increases. The same
ensure that foamed bitumen has the same characteristics for all happens when the temperature conditioning of the mixes in the
samples it is better to split the batch into the needed subsamples laboratory is performed for at least 2 h (short-term aging), allow-
for testing purposes. ing a higher absorption and aging of the bitumen [17].
 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024
Within the NCHRP Project 09-43 [17], for instance, it was ob-
served that the TSR was the same or better in 67% of the produced
WMA as compared to HMA when the process incorporated anti-
strip additives, as it happened, for instance, with Evotherm™. On
the contrary, when that type of additive was not included, TSR
hardly improved and showed even a decreasing in 79% of the mix-
tures. Results presented by Sanchez-Alonso et al. [27] generally
agree with the conclusion of NCHRP.
Kavussi and Hashemian [36] also achieved significant improve-
ments in the water sensitivity performance on WMA foam mixes,
produced with non-limestone fine aggregates, by adding 2% of hy-
drated lime powder as anti-striping agent. Moreover, WMA mixes
show typically lower tensile strength than the corresponding HMA
evaluated as a reference.
In the view of these conclusions, it is recommended to regularly
evaluate the water sensitivity on WMA, using anti-strip additives
when necessary [17] and/or increasing slightly the production
temperature [27], despite there is some differences between the
minimum specified values for TSR from one country to another.
5.3. Stiffness modulus
Generally, stiffness (stress/strain ratio), evaluated according to
EN 12697-26, AASHTO TP 79 or AASHTO T 321-03, decreases as
manufacturing temperature decreases, although the variation is
not proportional [27,37,38]. This happens for HMA and for WMA
as well. As for HMA, stiffness modulus decreases as the testing
temperature increases, for the same frequency, and increases as
loading frequency increases, for the same temperature [39].
Stiffness modulus increases with mixing and compaction tem-
peratures, as coating of coarse aggregates particles and bonds be-
tween them improve [38].
Cardone et al. [38] have concluded that synthetic waxes (used
as organic additive) tend to increase stiffness (obtained at 20 °C)
of traditional dense-graded asphalt for compaction temperatures
between 100 and 140 °C. The crystallisation due to wax additives
can ensure good stiffness values for WMA dense-graded asphalt,
despite that they are produced and compacted at lower tempera-
tures than usually HMA is [38].
Sanchez-Alonso et al. [27] have studied the influence of various
additives and drew some different conclusions. Four were chemical
additives and had adhesion promoters in their composition (two of
them including wax compounds), one organic and one zeolite. For
mixtures produced at 140 and 160 °C all the additive mixes
showed lower stiffness modulus (obtained at 20 °C) than the refer-
ence HMA. The opposite occurred at a production temperature of
120 °C, as all the WMA mixes had higher stiffness moduli than
the reference [27]. An important finding to draw out from San-
chez-Alonso et al. results is that lowering manufacturing tempera-
tures from typical values used for HMA to 120 °C, stiffness modulus
(obtained at 20 °C) decreased around 50% for HMA and in a range
from 10% to 50% for WMA, depending on the additive applied.
The study confirmed that mixes with wax additives had consis-
tently higher modulus values than the other types of WMA.
Some results [37] have shown that lowering manufacturing
temperatures of WMA mixtures lead to significant reduction on
the stiffness modulus obtained at high temperatures (45 °C), while
the effect is negligible for low test temperatures (4 °C).
Jenkins et al. [30] have tested various WMA incorporating 10–
20% of RAP and polymer modified bitumen (some with elastomers
and some with plastomers). It has been concluded that flexural
stiffness of WMA with no polymer modified bitumen (control mix-
tures), measured at 25 °C and 10 Hz, have a significant reduction in
various cases (40–60%), whereas similar mix compositions incor-
porating polymer modified bitumen merely showed slight varia-
tions for the same testing conditions. This allows declaring that
1021
elastomers or plastomers can be useful to improve the perfor-
mance of WMA, if necessary.
For SMA produced with WMA additives together with 0.2% by
total weight of fibres and about 6.5% of bitumen, Zaumanis [3] con-
cluded that stiffness modulus depends on the type of additive,
compaction method and temperature. He stated that lowering
the compaction temperature of WMA to at least 125 °C led to a
small reduction of stiffness moduli compared to those of HMA. A
further temperature reduction is considered to lower significantly
the mix’s stiffness.
As far as CRM mixes is concerned, Akisetty [40] states that, in
general, WMA additives, such as Aspha-minÒ and SasobitÒ, in spite
of allowing a reduction of compaction temperatures, have no neg-
ative influence on stiffness modulus.
5.4. Resistance to fatigue
Fatigue testing can be conducted according to EN 12697-24 or
AASHTO T 321-03. This type of tests induces continuous damage
on the specimen until failure occurs. This can be observed through
a gradual reduction of the material’s initial stiffness. Failure is gen-
erally assumed to occur when that reduction is 50%. Alternative ap-
proaches based on dissipated energy and continuous damage are
sometimes also applied to infer fatigue performance of asphalt
mixtures. The parameter e6 – strain level leading to failure at one
million loading cycles – is often calculated by regression analysis
of testing data (pairs of strain and number of cycles to failure val-
ues) to rank the fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures [41].
As reported in the literature [42], it can be stated that WMA
usually tend to suffer more fatigue damage at lower strain levels
than HMA, as observed in flexural testing carried out at 20 °C
and 10 Hz. Moreover, apparently, WMA are less sensitive to the
increasing of tensile strain level. Therefore, the use of WMA can
be advantageous in heavy duty pavements [21,42].
For SasobitÒ WMA mixes, as reported by Diefenderfer et al. [42],
fatigue performance of WMA, based on e6, decreased 22% as com-
pared to that of the reference HMA, when compaction temperature
of WMA was 110 °C instead of 150 °C applied to HMA. Neverthe-
less, the values calculated for e6 were far above 200 lm/m, which
clearly represent satisfactory fatigue behaviour. This performance
was observed on WMA produced in the laboratory, while for spec-
imens extracted from trial sections the reduction obtained for e6
was less than 10%.
The combination of RAP and polymer modified bitumen to-
gether with WMA technologies, as studied by Jenkins et al. [30],
introduced some differences to the WMA fatigue trends. Therefore,
they recommend further research regarding the limits of recycled
asphalt content and bitumen chemistry. However, other studies
carried out simultaneously in the laboratory and in full-scale [43]
have concluded that some WMA foam techniques combined with
high RAP don’t have negative effects regarding the strain induced
on the material. They specifically state that these WMA materials
seem to carry loads more efficiently and thus reduce the in-service
strain levels achieved at higher temperatures (e.g. 40 °C).
Apparently, the incorporation of SasobitÒ in CRM mixes slightly
benefits fatigue performance of the mix whilst the AsphaminÒ re-
duces somewhat the fatigue life. However, Xiao et al. [44] have
concluded that the influence of those WMA additives is not statis-
tically significant on the fatigue performance of CRM warm mixes.
5.5. Resistance to low temperature fracture
Low temperature cracking performance is only of more impor-
tance in very cold climates. Since WMA mixtures are produced at a
relatively low temperature, the bonding at the interface binder-
coated aggregate is in question at low in-service temperature. In
1022 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024

addition, as there is a significant differential thermal contraction despite the variation is not proportional. Rutting potential depends
within asphalt mixes at very low temperatures, thermal cracking on the amount of additive and the type of WMA technology used.
is likely to occur in those circumstances. This promotes the devel- Because of that, some American state agencies follow a specific
opment of micro-cracks, which evolve to larger ones and also al- procedure to derive a minimum production temperature for
lows the development and propagation of other cracks [45]. WMA, aiming to avoid rutting potential problems.
Because this mechanism is detrimental to the material’s strength
and durability the fracture resistance of the material must be eval-
6. Guidance on mixing, laying and compaction of warm asphalt
uated before using WMA in very cold climates.
mixes
A number of different testing protocols are applied to evaluate
low temperature performance of asphalt mixtures. The tensile
As mentioned above, temperatures of mixing and compaction
stress restrained specimen test (TSRST), carried out according to
mainly depend on the WMA technology applied and the type of
AASTHO TP-10-93, and the Superpave indirect tensile test (IDT)
additive added. Moreover, wax and chemical additives, and zeolite
are commonly used in the USA. In Europe the testing protocol
powder can be introduced into the mixing process by a number of
being developed is described in EN 12697-46: low temperature
procedures [8], which are summarised below.
cracking and properties by uniaxial tension tests.
Products added in small amounts into the process and supplied
Several studies found in the bibliography [46,47] have evalu-
in the form of pellets or pastilles are preferably added by means of
ated the low temperature cracking performance of WMA. They
a pneumatic feeder, which better controls the quantity added. In
have generally concluded that WMA show good performance
the case of drum plants, the pipe should deliver the product close
regarding low temperature cracking, irrespectively the type of
to the point where the binder is introduced. If there is a RAP collar
technology applied to produce the asphalt mixtures. Obviously,
mounted on the plant, it can be used as an access point. In batch
those conclusions were derived from various different parameters
plants additives are introduced directly into the mixer. Since the
which depend on the type of testing protocol used in each study.
amount of additive is considerably higher in the case of Thio-
In the study carried out by Das et al. [46], for instance, Super-
pave™, it is generally used a conveyor belt system directly feeding
pave IDT tests were conducted at three different temperatures (0,
the mixing drum or the pug mill, for drum plants and batch plants,
10 and 20 °C). The study also included a statistical analysis of
respectively. If additives are liquid at ambient temperatures, they
multiple fracture parameters based on Superpave IDT results ob-
can be injected from a heated container into the plant’s binder line
tained at 20 °C, which showed only a minor negative effect of
by means of a dosing pump, or pre-blended into the binder at the
wax modification (wax F–T and wax Asphaltan-B) as compared
terminal or at the refinery instead. For this later process it is advis-
to HMA. However at 0 °C they found a positive effect on fracture
able that storage tanks provide continuous stirring of the treated
properties for the wax WMA.
bitumen to promote homogeneity.
Min-Yong et al. [45] have also studied the resistance fracture at
Since zeolite is a powder, it is usually added by means of a com-
low temperature of WMA. The results showed that WMA with wax
pressed air system. In drum plants, to prevent it to get eliminated
additives or Evotherm™ at 20 °C exhibit similar or better perfor-
by the baghouse system, zeolite should be added to the bitumen in
mance than the HMA control mix.
a mixing box prior to injecting it into the drum mixer. For batch
plants the feeding pipe should be installed as close as possible to
5.6. Resistance to permanent deformation
the centre of the pug mill.
As far as foam bitumen technologies is concerned, mainly in
Permanent deformation performance is crucial in hot climates. It
water based processes, conventional plants require additional
can be evaluated in the laboratory by various testing methods,
foaming equipment to produce WMA. Therefore, the production
which use a variety of parameters to rank mixtures [48]. With this
procedure is significantly modified. This also recommends a better
purpose, the wheel-tracking test (WTT) is usually carried out in Eur-
implementation of the composition in the asphalt plants working
ope, according to EN 12697-22, despite other WTT procedures
framework. Descriptions of specific details on plants operation
which are applied in several other countries (AASHTO TP 63 and
are beyond the scope of this paper but they can be found in Prowell
AASHTO T 324). The rut depth induced on the material increases
et al. [8].
as the number of wheel passes raises, while the testing temperature
Adequate laying and compaction temperatures selection are
is high, generally around 50 or 60 °C. In European countries perma-
crucial to avoid problems. Despite a general temperature reduction
nent deformation potential can also be assessed by the cyclic com-
is allowed within WMA, for cold-weather conditions, long hauling
pression test, according to EN 12697-25.
distances or high RAP, for instance, it is advisable to select a tem-
WMA produced with wax additives, such as SasobitÒ, change
perature slightly higher. In some cases, the angle of attack of the
the properties of the binder at higher in-service temperatures,
paver screed, the material flow between equipments or thermal
allowing an improved resistance to rutting [23,28]. However,
segregation can be negatively influenced [8].
WMA mixes show generally worse performance than the HMA
Lowering production and compaction temperatures to a definite
used as control, particularly when foam technologies are used
limit is generally not detrimental for workability of WMA mixes
[49]. In spite of these tendencies which are also observed for
[23]. In most cases, it has been easier to achieve required densities
CRM mixes with SasobitÒ or AsphaminÒ, the difference between
with WMA comparing to HMA, even at significantly lower temper-
the control CRM mix and the warm CRM mixes is not statistically
atures (slightly above 100 °C for a 45% RAP Aspha-min WMA) [8].
significant [40].
Nevertheless, some cases wherein the production temperature
In addition, WTT carried out on the Hamburg wheel-tracking
was close to its lowest extreme have been reported to need higher
device (AASHTO T324) wherein specimens are maintained within
compaction energy [23].
a water bath during wheel passes reveal that WMA’s resistance
to rutting is rather worse than that of control mixtures due to
moisture damage. This is likely to occur because there is less stiff- 7. Comparison between life-cycle cost analysis of WMA and
ening of the binder throughout the mixing and compaction HMA
processes.
It has been found [37] that the mixture resistance to permanent The life cycle analysis (LCA) of asphalt pavements is usually di-
deformation decreases as production temperature decreases, vided into four phases: production of raw materials, construction,
 S.D. Capitão et al. / Construction and Building Materials 36 (2012) 1016–1024
maintenance and repair, and demolition (followed by re-construc-
tion) or recycling (end-of-life) [50,51]. Santero et al. [50] also have
considered the ‘use’ phase (in-service life span).
In the case of asphalt mixes, LCA allows analysing and assessing
the environmental impact of the material during its entire life cy-
cle, from the production of the raw materials to their end-of-life.
The LCA also incorporates some economic aspects involved in the
process, such as energy consumption in each life-cycle stage [51].
When some features are similar between the compared materials
the evaluation of various LCA components is not necessary [50].
Some authors [50] state that LCA of asphalt pavements has a
few unresolved issues which can introduce bias into the conclu-
sions. Despite the uncertainty of the available LCA quantitative
models [50,52], this type of study is usually performed for deci-
sion-making purposes, amongst different technologies or pro-
cesses. The comprehensive discussion of problems involving LCA
of WMA and HMA are beyond the scope of this paper. Neverthe-
less, a reflection on some questions involving LCA of WMA and
HMA is presented below.
Apart from WMA additives, the production process of constitu-
ent materials is approximately the same for WMA and HMA. As
mentioned before, emissions associated with additives can offset
somewhat the general reduction of by-products released. In the
protocol elaborated by the Transport Research Laboratory [53],
for instance, wherein all GHG are transformed in ‘carbon dioxide
equivalent’ (CO2e), FT wax and adhesion agents are represented
by 5700 and 1200 kgCO2e/t, respectively, while bitumen is repre-
sented by 280 kgCO2e/t. Based on this data, one can conclude that
in a typical mixture composition with 5% of binder content, the
additives’ contribution to CO2e can attain 50% of that of bitumen.
Apparently, the construction stage integrates the most impor-
tant advantages of WMA compared to HMA. Actually, temperature
reduction in WMA leads to significant decreasing on fuel consump-
tion and CO2 emissions. Typical reduction of both is in a range of
10–30%, despite higher values can be found in the literature [5,8].
Although there are not yet too much available data concerning
long-term performance of WMA, based on the observations carried
out to date there are no reasons to believe that WMA have lower
performance than HMA. Therefore, maintenance and repair would
be more or less the same in both cases. Identical conclusion can be
made regarding deposit or recycling for both types of technology.
8. Summary and conclusions
WMA comprise a great number of asphalt mixtures, as a large
amount of different mixes (dense and gap graded, SMA, asphalt
rubber, RAP, etc) can be fabricated, laid and compacted by using
WMA technologies instead of traditional HMA. The required tem-
perature reduction can be achieved through the use of additives
(wax and chemical additives) or foaming techniques.
Generally speaking, authors claim that WMA have a significant
number of advantages comparing to HMA, basically associated
with energy saving which lead to a major reduction of GHG emis-
sions and pollutants. Even though some drawbacks have also been
pointed out, benefits of WMA in a whole seem to surmount their
drawbacks.
Three main mechanisms groups were identified to produce
WMA mixtures. The level of mixing and compaction temperatures
lowering depend on the process applied together with other fac-
tors, such as the type of mixture and the paving conditions.
Mix design of WMA is generally carried out by procedures
used for HMA particularly when temperature reduction is
achieved by means of additives, as conventional laboratory proce-
dures seem to be adequate. Conversely, for water based foaming
techniques the mix design procedure is far more complex because
1023
specific laboratory foaming equipment is required, although
sometimes trial compositions are evaluated as if they were
HMA. As this process is not enough it requires further evaluation
during the production process in plant to finish the mix design
process.
In terms of water sensitivity, WMA show generally good perfor-
mance if adhesion agents are included in the mix. Actually, since
mixing temperatures are sometimes near the lower acceptable
limit, damp aggregate remains within the mixture, allowing mois-
ture susceptibility. In these cases, slightly increasing the tempera-
ture can also contribute to overcome problems.
Stiffness modulus measured at high temperatures (45 °C, for in-
stance) is apparently influenced by some WMA technologies. On
the contrary, that influence is almost insignificant for testing at
low temperatures. At moderate temperatures (20 °C), moduli can
visibly decrease but the variation is not of remarkable importance.
Wax WMA show consistently higher stiffness modulus than other
WMA. Using polymer modified bitumen tend to improve stiffness
performance when needed.
Resistance to fatigue cracking of WMA is generally good but
somewhat lower than that of HMA use as control, apart from some
wax WMA. Nevertheless, for high in-service temperatures WMA
tend to suffer lower strain levels under load. Therefore, in these cir-
cumstances WMA are less sensitive to fatigue damage than HMA
used as reference. Statistical analysis has concluded that fatigue
performance of CRM warm mixes asphalt with additives has no
significant difference of that of the performance of CRM without
additives.
Resistance of WMA to cracking at low temperature is appar-
ently generally good but slightly lower than the observed for sim-
ilar HMA.
It appears that permanent deformation behaviour of WMA is
apparently very dependent on the production lowering tempera-
ture achieved. For high levels of temperature reduction WMA per-
formance is consistently reduced. SasobitÒ WMA seems to be the
only one that does not follow the tendency, as the crystallisation
of wax improves resistance to deformation at high temperatures.
The general tendency observed has been interpreted as a conse-
quence of lower oxidative hardening of binder originated from
lowering production temperatures. Therefore, it is recommended
that the permanent deformation resistance must be evaluated
prior to construction.
Foaming technologies usually require important plant modifica-
tions as the injection of water into the process need specific addi-
tional equipment. In the case of foaming based on zeolite the
necessary modifications can be much less important. Although
the introduction of additives is preferably made by means of spe-
cific pneumatic equipments, it is generally allowed to add them
into the process without a defined apparatus.
Laying and compaction operations are generally improved, as
workability of WMA is adequate and the release of fumes and
odours for workers is much lower. Even if paving conditions are
challenging WMA is usually a good contribution to help paving
operations. However, as stated in the literature the operation and
maintenance of plants used for WMA production require addi-
tional care to avoid some functioning problems.
As far as LCA of WMA compared to that of HMA is concerned,
environmental aspects tend to be more favourable for WMA, de-
spite the fact that definitive conclusions are not yet possible as
long-term performance of WMA is not completely known.
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