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Minnesota Local Road Research Board

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Innovative Materials and Advanced Technologies for a Sustainable Pavement Infrastructure

  • Two photos: on the left, the strip sample of an asphalt mixture with four electrical probes inserted into it with attached clamps and wires. The right hand photo shows computers, screens and keyboard of the voltage monitoring equipment with many wires on a table in a crowded engineering lab setting.
  • The colored bands, green for Preventative, yellow for Rehabilitative and red for Reconstructive, indicate levels of pavement treatments needed over time. The chart shows that timely preventative treatment keeps pavement in good condition longer.
  • Image of Traffic

Status:  Complete
Report Date:  07/20/2021

Summary:

Two innovative materials—graphite nanoplatelets and taconite concentrates—were examined for their ability to allow early detection of pavement damage when they were added to asphalt binder mixtures. Using microwave energy to heal early pavement cracking was also reviewed. Through extensive testing, researchers made progress toward early damage detection and notable success in healing damaged pavements with microwave energy. The treated pavement samples containing small amounts of these novel materials were restored to their original condition and strength in the laboratory. More study is indicated

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