Interphase Relations in the Characterisation of Bitumen Emulsion-Cement Composites

Strategic research on bitumen emulsion-based materials is substantial for addressing numerous environmental effects of road infrastructure. The present specifications for bitumen emulsions are based on properties that are insufficient for a fundamental understanding of their relation to the physicomechanical behaviour of realistic coarse-graded materials for structural layers. The aim of the interlaboratory testing (ILT) of RILEM TC 280-CBE Task group 1 is to investigate the link between the intrinsic interphase relations and macroscopic physicomechanical behaviour of bitumen emulsion-cement composites. Thus, the objective of this individual research was creating the basis for the above ILT by experimental and analytical evaluation of mortar-based model systems, by investigating their physicomechanical behaviour, and by conducting the sensitivity analysis of the relations between phases. The experimental evaluation comprised compactability and volumetric evaluation of fresh mixtures, indirect tensile-based testing at different stages of curing, as well as the temporal measurement of the evaporation of water from specimens.