Project Summary

Recycled rubber can improve the performance of an asphalt mix at high temperatures. Improved performance is also observed throughout the temperature range that asphalt pavement is exposed to over time.

The modification of the asphalt mixture by rubber crumb or powder from the mechanical granulation of End of Life Tyres, has the following advantages:
• Longer life of the asphalt pavement
• Higher resistance to high temperatures (reduction of wheel bolts)
• Higher resistance to low temperatures (crack reduction)
• Reduced noise from vehicle traffic
• Reduction of “spraying” from vehicle traffic on wet roads.

The RAP-ELT project aimed to study the possibility of increasing the recycling rate of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) without the use of expensive regenerators, but with the use of modified asphalt with rubber granulate.

In the RAP-ELT project the optimal percentage of crumb rubber that can be used as an asphalt modifier was studied and a pilot application of a heavy traffic road was carried out in the Municipality of Aspropyrgos.

After the laying of the road was completed, its technically correct construction was checked and the improvement of its properties was measured in terms of environmental noise reduction, rutting resistance and skid resistance.

The project’s final goal is to provide national specifications for the use of crumb rubber for asphalt modification, which will be evaluated both ecologically and economically.

The project will investigate

i) The percentage of tire crumb use for asphalt modification, by substituting other modifiers
ii) The possibility of increasing RAP’s participation in the production of asphalt mixtures by virtue of the inclusion of the tire crumb.
iii) Coarse-grain substitution rates in bituminous mixtures by maintaining and / or increasing their quality characteristics. The possibility of using rubber crumb to modify the bulk bitumen used in the production of bituminous mixtures.