Advanced Experimental Evaluation of Asphalt Mortar for Induction Healing Purposes

This paper studied the induction heating and healing capacity of asphalt mortar by adding electrically conductive additives (e.g. iron powder and steel fibers), and examined the influence of different combinations of them on the mechanical response of asphalt mortars. Induction heating technique is this innovative asphalt pavement maintenance method that is applied to the conductive asphalt concrete mixtures in order to prevent the formation of macro-cracks by increasing locally the temperature of asphalt mixtures. It was found that increasing steel fiber content within the asphalt mortar the tensile strength and the fatigue life increased respectively. It was also proved that the conductive asphalt mortars with iron powder appeared improved mechanical response when steel fibers were added. Furthermore, it was observed that asphalt mortars containing a combination of additives – steel fibers and iron powder - demonstrate a better induction heating efficiency than mortars including only steel fibers. Finally, the induction healing capacity of conductive asphalt mortars is determined.