Emerging Methods in Asphalt Binder Rheological Characterization

ABSTRACT One of the most significant achievements in the area of paving asphalt materials characterization was the development of the Strategic Highway Research Program Specifications at the beginning of the 1990's. The PG tests and analyses, detailed in a number of AASHTO specifications, are used to specify the asphalt binders used in pavement applications and also serve as primary tools to investigate the behavior of asphalt binders in many research studies. In this paper the limitations of the current PG system are discussed and emerging methods developed to address these limitations and to improve the selection of good performing asphalt binders are described.