Integrated manufacturing of REciclable multi-material COmposites for the TRANSport sector

The slow curing speed of traditional cement materials for airport pavement maintenance tended to cause unacceptable delays on the daily operations of airport aircraft. It was indispensable to select organic polymer materials to achieve rapid maintenance effect with high quality. At present, polyurethane had been adopted to achieve special demands for functional pavements. However, the application of polyurethane on rapid thin-overlay maintenance technology for airport pavement had not been researched extensively and there were also no standardized material design and construction procedures. This research conducted investigations on the thermosetting characteristics, component optimization and performance evaluation of polyurethane as rapid thin-overlay maintenance material for airport concrete pavement. First, the effects of micro-phase separation with different component ratios on polyurethane binder were analyzed. Three kinds of polyols were compared and selected comprehensively with corresponding optimal content ratio. Then, the thermosetting characteristics of polyurethane binder were evaluated, in terms of curing duration and curing temperatures. The curing process model of polyurethane molecules with gelation point was illustrated. The optimum polyurethane binder content was determined according to the properties of polyurethane-bonded mixtures and the optimal interlayer structure of the PUM composite overlay was considered. The characteristics of cement concrete and polyurethane-bonded mixture were compared, including mechanical property, durability and permeability. Finally, the internal structural details of cement concrete and polyurethane-bonded mixture were reconstructed and analyzed through X-ray CT scan. This research promoted the application potential of polyurethane as the rapid maintenance material with thin-overlay technology for airport pavement.

» Author: Ling Xu, Xianrui Li, Fu Jiang, Xinyao Yu, Jun Wang, Feipeng Xiao

» Publication Date: 15/08/2022

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