Preliminary Studies to Use Textile Fibers Obtained from Recycled Tires to Reinforce Asphalt Mixtures

The use of crumb rubber in the modification of asphalt has occurred because of the problems related to disposal of scrap tires. However, the use of scrap tires in asphalt pavements, known as asphalt rubber pavements, can minimize environmental impacts and maximize conservation of natural resources. The textile fibers from recycled tires are typically disposed of in landfills or used in energetic valorization, but similar to other fibers, they can be used as a valuable resource in the reinforcement of engineering materials such as asphalt mixtures. Thus, this work aims at studying the use of textile fibers recycled from ground tires in the reinforcement of conventional asphalt mixtures. The application of textile fibers from ground tires was evaluated through laboratory tests on specimens extracted from slabs produced in the laboratory. Indirect tensile tests were performed on a series of nine asphalt mixtures with different fiber and asphalt contents and compared with a conventional mixture. The results obtained from a 50/70 pen asphalt were used to define three asphalt mixture configurations to be used with 35/50 pen asphalt. The results indicate that the textile fibers recycled from used tires can be a valuable resource in the reinforcement of asphalt mixtures.