An efficient non-destructive separation method of road marking from asphalt pavement by microwave directional heating

In this paper, an efficient and non-destructive separation route of road marking from asphalt pavement was reported firstly via microwave directional heating. By accurately focusing microwave energy on a thin film and making it high temperature, the markings can be easily separated from the pavement surface. Microwave heating test results showed that when 25%wt composite microwave absorbent were added to the bonding layer and impedance-matching layer respectively, the heating rate of impedance-matching marking specimen surface was 34.56℃/min, 73.72% higher than that of the control group. The marking removal efficiency was calculated via Matlab digital image processing technology, showed that the average removal efficiency of impedance-matching marking specimens were 100.00%. The above findings show that marking removal method proposed in this study could significantly reduce the difficulty of removing markings on asphalt pavements and greatly improve the removal efficiency.