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Peer-reviewedCC BYPolymers

Fatigue Cracking Resistance of Crumb Rubber-Modified Asphalt: Mechanisms, Testing Methods, and Multiscale Performance Evaluation from Binder to Field

  • Anil Rai1
  • Sushmit Sharma Bhattarai2
  • Hyunhwan Kim1
  • Moon-Sup Lee3
  • Soon-Jae Lee1
  1. 1Department of Engineering Technology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
  2. 2Construction Management, Department of Construction Management, U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
  3. 3Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Goyang-si 10223, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
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Abstract

Fatigue cracking is a load-related distress limiting flexible pavement service life. This review evaluates 121 studies on the fatigue resistance of crumb rubber-modified asphalt (CRMA) across binder, mixture, modeling, and field scales. CRMA improves fatigue resistance through rubber–asphalt interaction and the elastic contribution of undissolved particles; adequate swelling, dispersion, and bonding slow crack propagation, whereas weak interaction or aging-related interface weakening promotes localized damage. Optimum rubber contents and particle sizes vary with damage stage, material scale, dosage basis, and processing. The benefit is strain-dependent, greater at 2.5% than 5.0%, and rankings may reverse between amplitudes. Linear viscoelastic parameters poorly characterize progressive damage in highly modified binders; linear amplitude sweep testing with viscoelastic continuum damage analysis is more informative but sensitive to the failure criterion. The benefit narrows with evaluation scale, though not uniformly: binder-level improvements reach 116 times the control at 2.5% strain and 45 times at 5.0%, mixture-scale improvements about 1.4 to 10 times (upper bound provisional), and field performance comparable to or moderately better than modified controls. CRMA is a viable alternative to polymer-modified asphalt under specific conditions; equivalence rather than superiority is defensible. Standardized failure criteria, phase-resolved aging procedures, protocols representing healing, and validated multi-scale relationships are needed.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{rai2026fatigue,
  title = {{Fatigue Cracking Resistance of Crumb Rubber-Modified Asphalt: Mechanisms, Testing Methods, and Multiscale Performance Evaluation from Binder to Field}},
  author = {Anil Rai and Sushmit Sharma Bhattarai and Hyunhwan Kim and Moon-Sup Lee and Soon-Jae Lee},
  journal = {Polymers},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/polym18192451},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13667453},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Fatigue Cracking Resistance of Crumb Rubber-Modified Asphalt: Mechanisms, Testing Methods, and Multiscale Performance Evaluation from Binder to Field
AU  - Anil Rai
AU  - Sushmit Sharma Bhattarai
AU  - Hyunhwan Kim
AU  - Moon-Sup Lee
AU  - Soon-Jae Lee
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Polymers
DO  - 10.3390/polym18192451
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13667453
AB  - Fatigue cracking is a load-related distress limiting flexible pavement service life. This review evaluates 121 studies on the fatigue resistance of crumb rubber-modified asphalt (CRMA) across binder, mixture, modeling, and field scales. CRMA improves fatigue resistance through rubber–asphalt interaction and the elastic contribution of undissolved particles; adequate swelling, dispersion, and bonding slow crack propagation, whereas weak interaction or aging-related interface weakening promotes localized damage. Optimum rubber contents and particle sizes vary with damage stage, material scale, dosage basis, and processing. The benefit is strain-dependent, greater at 2.5% than 5.0%, and rankings may reverse between amplitudes. Linear viscoelastic parameters poorly characterize progressive damage in highly modified binders; linear amplitude sweep testing with viscoelastic continuum damage analysis is more informative but sensitive to the failure criterion. The benefit narrows with evaluation scale, though not uniformly: binder-level improvements reach 116 times the control at 2.5% strain and 45 times at 5.0%, mixture-scale improvements about 1.4 to 10 times (upper bound provisional), and field performance comparable to or moderately better than modified controls. CRMA is a viable alternative to polymer-modified asphalt under specific conditions; equivalence rather than superiority is defensible. Standardized failure criteria, phase-resolved aging procedures, protocols representing healing, and validated multi-scale relationships are needed.
SN  - 2073-4360
ER  -