Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in Polymer-Modified and Plastic-Reinforced Asphalt: A Comprehensive Review of Performance, Rheology, and Sustainability

This review examines recent advances in polymer-modified and plastic-reinforced asphalt, evaluating how elastomeric modifiers, plastomeric modifiers, and recycled plastic integration affect pavement performance, rheological properties, and environmental sustainability across studies published from 2020 to 2025.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in Polymer-Modified and Plastic-Reinforced Asphalt: A Comprehensive Review of Performance, Rheology, and Sustainability

This review consolidates advances from 2020-2025 in polymer-modified asphalt systems — covering elastomeric and plastomeric modifiers, recycled plastic incorporation, rheological characterisation, and environmental implications — to evaluate how plastic reinforcement of asphalt can improve pavement durability while supporting sustainability goals.

2025 International Journal of Science and Research Archive
Article Tier 2

Performance and environmental impacts of waste plastic-modified asphalt pavement: a comprehensive review

This review examined recent research on using waste plastic to modify asphalt pavement and found that it generally improves road durability while reducing harmful emissions during production. However, challenges remain around plastic-bitumen compatibility and potential microplastic release during the pavement's lifetime, and the authors call for more standardized environmental assessments to ensure the approach is truly sustainable.

2025 Cleaner Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review on the Use of Polyethylene Waste in Hot Mix Asphalt: Material Properties, Performance Enhancement, and Sustainability Perspectives

This review examines the use of low-density and high-density polyethylene waste as modifiers in hot mix asphalt, finding that PE incorporation can improve binder performance and pavement durability while diverting plastic waste from landfills. The authors assess material properties, environmental benefits, and economic considerations, positioning plastic-modified asphalt as a viable circular economy approach in road construction.

2025 Journal of Engineering
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Polymers from Recycled Waste Plastics and Their Virgin Counterparts as Bitumen Modifiers: A Comprehensive Review

This review comprehensively examined the use of both recycled waste plastics and virgin polymers as bitumen modifiers for road pavements, evaluating how different polymer types improve pavement performance and service life.

2021 Polymers 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic-Waste-Modified Asphalt for Sustainable Road Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Review

This review provides a comprehensive analysis of using waste plastics to modify asphalt for road construction, covering six major plastic types and both wet and dry processing methods. The study evaluated 42 peer-reviewed studies and found that integrating waste plastics into asphalt can enhance pavement performance while promoting circular economy principles, though environmental considerations such as microplastic release need further assessment.

2025 Sustainability 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in the construction of sustainable asphalt roads with recycled plastic

This review examines the growing use of recycled plastics in road asphalt, tracing the practice back to the 1980s and identifying key challenges around performance, durability, and the risk of microplastic release from plastic-modified road surfaces. The authors conclude that while promising for waste reduction, more research is needed on long-term environmental impacts.

2022 Polymer International 45 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

A systematic review on sustainable utilization of plastic waste in asphalt: assessing environmental and health impact, performance, and economic viability

Researchers systematically reviewed plastic-modified asphalt, finding that while recycled plastic waste can improve road performance in some cases, it also poses environmental health risks through microplastic release, carcinogenic compound emissions, and volatile organic compound off-gassing, with cost-effectiveness varying widely by plastic type and processing method.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review of Applications and Environmental Risks of Waste Plastics in Asphalt Pavements

This comprehensive review examined the use of waste plastics (PE, PP, PS, PVC, PET) as asphalt modifiers, covering modification mechanisms, incorporation techniques (wet and dry processes), and environmental risks. While waste-plastic asphalt can improve high-temperature stability and reduce landfill disposal, microplastic shedding from pavement wear remains an unresolved environmental hazard.

2025 Materials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering properties, microplastics and emissions assessment of recycled plastic modified asphalt mixtures

Researchers evaluated the mechanical performance and environmental impact of adding recycled low-density polyethylene and commingled plastics to hot-mix asphalt, finding reduced moisture resistance but also assessing microplastic release and emissions from these recycled plastic-modified road materials.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 42 citations
Article Tier 2

A bibliometric analysis and review on the performance of polymer-modified bitumen

This bibliometric review analyzed global research on polymer-modified bitumen, summarizing how polymer additives improve the physical and rheological properties of asphalt binders while identifying ongoing challenges with compatibility and aging degradation.

2023 Frontiers in Materials 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Developing Sustainable Asphalt Mixtures Using High-Density Polyethylene Plastic Waste Material

Researchers evaluated asphalt mixtures incorporating high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic waste as a sustainable road pavement material, assessing whether recycled plastic can improve or maintain pavement performance while addressing plastic waste disposal.

2023 Sustainability 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Optimization of Asphalt Concrete Performance Using Waste Plastic Bottles (WPB) as a Sustainable Bitumen Modifier: A Comprehensive Rheological and Mechanical Assessment

Not relevant to microplastics — this study evaluates waste plastic bottles as a bitumen modifier to improve asphalt road performance, testing mechanical and thermal properties; it addresses plastic reuse in construction rather than environmental microplastic pollution.

2026 American Journal of Civil Engineering
Article Tier 2

Second Life for Plastic Fibre Waste Difficult to Recover: Partial Replacement of the Binder in Asphalt Concrete Mixtures by Dry Incorporation

Researchers found that incorporating waste plastic fibers from municipal solid waste into asphalt concrete as a partial bitumen replacement improved resistance to plastic deformation and mechanical performance, with results approaching those of polymer-modified bitumen mixtures while improving material sustainability.

2023 Materials 7 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

The Use of Waste Polymers in Asphalt Mixtures: Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review

This systematic review examines how waste plastics can be recycled into asphalt road mixtures, potentially reducing plastic waste in the environment. Researchers found that adding polymer waste to asphalt can actually improve road durability while diverting plastics from landfills and waterways. This matters because reducing plastic waste at the source is one way to lower the amount of microplastics that eventually break down and enter our food and water.

2023 Journal of Composites Science 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Incorporation of E-Waste Plastics into Asphalt: A Review of the Materials, Methods, and Impacts

This review examined the use of e-waste plastics (from discarded electronics) as modifiers in asphalt pavement, covering recycling approaches, compatibility challenges, and performance outcomes. While e-waste plastics can improve some asphalt properties, their chemical complexity and potential to leach microplastics during pavement wear remain concerns.

2025 Encyclopedia 2 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Recycled Plastics in Asphalt Mixtures: A Systematic Review of Mechanical Performance, Environmental Impact and Practical Implementation

This systematic review evaluates using recycled plastics in road asphalt as a way to reduce plastic waste. The research found that incorporating recycled plastic can actually improve road durability while diverting waste from landfills. This approach matters for microplastic reduction because it locks plastic into road surfaces rather than allowing it to break down freely in the environment.

2025 Applied Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Recycling micro polypropylene in modified hot asphalt mixture

This study incorporated recycled polypropylene microplastics into hot asphalt mixtures and evaluated the resulting performance, finding that small additions of plastic waste can improve certain mechanical properties of asphalt while offering a pathway to reuse plastic waste in road construction.

2023 Scientific Reports 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Composition Optimisation of Selected Waste Polymer-Modified Bitumen

This study examined how recycled polypropylene and polyethylene plastomers can be blended into bitumen for road paving, evaluating how mixing conditions affect the properties of the modified asphalt.

2022 Materials 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Crumb Rubber Modified Asphalt: Fundamentals to Recent Developments

This review covers crumb rubber modified asphalt, tracing the technology's development from fundamental material science through recent advances in processing methods and performance evaluation. The authors assess how rubber particle size, devulcanization, and mixing conditions affect asphalt properties, and discuss the environmental implications of tire rubber entering road runoff as microplastic particles.

2024 IntechOpen eBooks 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Waste Plastic in Asphalt Mixtures via the Dry Method: A Bibliometric Analysis

This bibliometric analysis reviews two decades of research on incorporating waste plastic into asphalt road mixtures using the dry method. The study found that polyethylene and PET are the most commonly used waste plastics, and that smaller particle sizes and melting-based mixing procedures generally improve the performance of the resulting asphalt, pointing to a practical reuse pathway for plastic waste.

2024 Sustainability 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of Plastic Waste on the Workability and Mechanical Behaviour of Asphalt Concrete

Researchers found that incorporating plastic waste into asphalt concrete using a dry process improved selected mechanical properties including stiffness and fatigue resistance in some formulations while maintaining acceptable workability, supporting plastic waste as a viable bitumen extender for road construction.

2022 Applied Sciences 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of the rheological properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) modified bitumens using two plastic wastes

Researchers modified road bitumen with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic waste to improve its performance characteristics. The LDPE-modified bitumen showed improved rheological properties, demonstrating a practical use for plastic waste in road construction that could divert it from landfills and waterways.

2023 Sigma Journal of Engineering and Natural Sciences – Sigma Mühendislik ve Fen Bilimleri Dergisi 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of marine microplastics on the mechanical performance of bituminous binder for road asphalt pavements

Researchers investigated the effects of marine-sourced microplastics as additives in bituminous binders used for road asphalt pavements, finding that incorporating marine microplastics into bitumen improved mechanical road performance while simultaneously providing a recycling pathway for plastic waste collected from marine environments.

2025 Transportation research procedia