Effect of Ferrite Application on Bitumen Behavior and Fatigue and Creep Performance of Asphalt Mixture

In recent decades, due to the high cost of road construction and environmental considerations, different waste materials have been used in asphalt mixtures. Therefore, using waste materials as an additive to improve the performance of bitumen and asphalt is important. Due to its angularity, high porosity, and surface roughness, the use of ferrite as a filler or bitumen additive is expected to increase the friction of aggregate materials and the penetration and adhesion of bitumen, thereby enhancing the physical characteristics of the asphalt mixture. This study investigates the mechanical performance of asphalt mixtures during dry and wet ferrite mixing design and its effect as an additive on bitumen performance. In order to determine the bitumen parameters, ferrite was added to the bitumen as an additive, and then DSR, FTIR, and SEM were conducted. As a next step, asphalt samples were made using modified bitumen (wet mix) and modified filler (dry mix), and Marshall, fatigue, creep, indirect tension, moisture sensitivity, Cantabro, and resilience modulus tests were conducted in two loading conditions, half-sine, and square. Adding 100% ferrite to the asphalt mixture only increased its fatigue factor to the highest value. However, compared to the control sample, the asphalt mix containing 70% ferrite and 30% cement improved the other performance factors by 48%, 90%, 38%, 17.7%, 39%, 67%, and 80%, respectively. In addition, when the percentage of ferrite added to bitumen was increased, the parameters of fatigue and rutting improved, with the seven percent sample showing the best performance.