To meet the needs of the road industry for maintenance operations, a new cement emulsified bitumen mixture (CEBM) with early-strength, self-compacting, and room-temperature construction characteristics was designed. The strength formation mechanism of CEBM was revealed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the surface free energy (SFE) theory. The mechanical properties and road performance of the CEBM were investigated extensively. The results show that before the demulsification of emulsified bitumen, the SFE of the bitumen–aggregate–water three-phase system was reduced due to the replacement of the bitumen–aggregate interface with water. The adhesion work between the emulsified bitumen and the aggregate is negative, which means the adhesion between the emulsified bitumen and the aggregate will not occur spontaneously due to the existence of water. The liquid emulsified bitumen improves the workability of the mixture and ensures that the mixture can be evenly mixed and self-compacted. After demulsification, the work of adhesion between the residual bitumen and the aggregate is positive, which means residual bitumen and aggregate can bond spontaneously. In addition, the hydration products of cement and aggregate form a skeleton, and the emulsified bitumen film wraps and bonds the cement and aggregate together, creating strength. The emulsified bitumen, cement content, and curing conditions have significant effects on the stability of CEBM. The recommended dosage of emulsified bitumen and cement is 8% and 8–10%, respectively. This material integrates the hardening effect of cement and the viscoelastic performance of bitumen and has good workability, mechanical properties, and road performance. Therefore, the CEBM is technically feasible for application to bitumen pavement.@en

Traditional asphalt mixtures can't absorb microwave energy efficiently, which limits the development of microwave heating technology in the field of road maintenance. Based on the microwave heating characteristics of basalt aggregates, the overall microwave self-healing rate of the asphalt mixture can be enhanced. The basalt was tested by XRF, XPS, XRD and electromagnetic parameters to reveal its microwave heating mechanism. Through the heating rate test, SCB test and fatigue test of asphalt mixture, its heating characteristics, flexural strength, fatigue resistance and self-healing performance were studied. The results showed that the excellent wave-absorbing properties of basalt are highly correlated with the elements of Si, Fe and Al. Its TanδM was slightly larger than TanδE, which indicated that basalt can absorb microwave energy through dielectric loss and magnetic loss. The aggregate type and particle size both affected the microwave heating rate of the aggregates. After microwave heating, the flexural strength and fatigue resistance of asphalt mixture with basalt and limestone aggregates can recover at least 65% and 23% respectively.@en

Conventional asphalt mixture has poor microwave absorbing performance and microwave heating efficiency. Based on the characteristics of dielectric loss of scrap tire pyrolysis carbon black (PCB), it is proposed to improve the microwave absorbing performance and self-healing rate of bitumen. The phase composition and electromagnetic parameters of PCB were tested to reveal its microwave heating mechanism. The preparation parameters, heating characteristics and self-healing properties of PCB modified bitumen were studied through the dispersion uniformity test, microwave heating test and SCB test. The main phases of PCB are microwave absorbing carbon and silicon, indicating that PCB is a good electric loss microwave absorbing material. 40 min is the recommended mixing time of 15% PCB modified bitumen. PCB's dosage, microwave frequency and microwave heating time have significant effects on the microwave heating characteristics of PCB modified bitumen. PCB can improve high-temperature stability, thermal conductance, heat storage capacity and self-healing rate of bitumen.@en

A self-compacting steel slag epoxy resin concrete (SERC) was designed with steel slag as aggregate and epoxy resin as binder for rapid repair of road expansion joints and pavement. At the same time, a group of self-compacting basalt epoxy resin concrete (BERC) with basalt as coarse aggregate and limestone as fine aggregate was set up as the control group. The element analysis and micro morphology of SERC and BERC were studied by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to reveal the strength-forming mechanism of the two epoxy resin concretes. The cube compression test and Marshall stability test were used to study the effect of the strength formation rate and temperature of SERC and BERC on the strength. In addition, the high-temperature stability, low-temperature crack resistance, water damage resistance, fatigue resistance and interlayer bonding properties of SERC and BERC were also studied. The results showed that both SERC and BERC have good mechanical properties, high temperature properties and good bonding properties, and the low-temperature crack resistance and fatigue properties of SERC are better than that of BERC. According to the verification of the actual project that has been in service for one year, SERC can be perfectly used for road expansion joints.@en

The special environment conditions in high altitude areas leads to serious cracking and peeling of road hot-melt marking coatings. In order to improve the durability of marking paint, a durable hot-melt marking paint was designed by modifying the paint with toughening-agent, rheological agent, and anti-aging agent. The modification mechanism of the modified coating was revealed through TG and FTIR analysis. The low-temperature anti cracking, adhesion, and anti-aging properties of the modified coating were studied by low-temperature bending test, interlaminar shear test and UV aging test. Besides this, the workability of modified coatings was tested onsite. The results showed that the mass loss rate of the rheological agent is 0.15% at 240 °C, the modified coating had good thermal stability within the mixing temperature range of the coating. There was no chemical change between the modifier and the coating, which was a physical blend. The modified marking paint had good fluidity, softening point and drying time, but its compressive strength was slightly reduced. With the increase of the content of the toughener, the low temperature crack resistance and adhesion of the marking coating gradually increase. When the toughener is 5%, the flexural tensile strain of the marking coating beam increased by 79.1%, and the adhesion strength of asphalt concrete increased by 53.4%. The anti-aging agent can shield most of the UV radiation and improve the anti-aging property of the coating by about 30%. The field process validation achieved the expected results. The modifier coating has excellent low temperature crack resistance, adhesion, UV aging resistance, and other properties, and has good application prospects in harsh environment areas.@en