To evaluate the performance of Warm Mixture Asphalt (WMA) with varying amounts of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) in comparison with Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), comprehensive laboratory and field evaluations were conducted. Mix designs were performed for both WMA with a LEADCAP additive and HMA with large amounts of fractionated RAP materials. Hamburg Wheel Tracking (HWT) test was performed to evaluate the rutting and moisture susceptibility of both HMA and WMA laboratory mixtures. HMA mixtures with up to 50% RAP materials by binder replacement exhibited a better performance than WMA mixtures. However, when RAP materials were increased to 75% both WMA and HMA mixtures showed a superior performance. When a specially designed LEADCAP additive for a mixture with a high RAP content called "RAPCAP" was used, the performance was significantly improved. The existing Asphalt Bond Strength (ABS) test (AASHTO TP91-11) was modified to better evaluate the adhesion bond between asphalt binder and aggregate surface. Based on the modified ABS test results, it was found that the asphalt binder type significantly influenced the adhesion bond.
To evaluate the performance of WMA mixtures in the field, test sections were constructed in Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio. The test sections were successfully constructed with less compaction effort than HMA and met the required field densities per each DOT's specification. All HMA and WMA mixtures collected from the test sections passed the HWT and the modified Lottman tests, which indicates high resistance to rutting and moisture damage. The asphalt binders were then extracted and recovered from the field samples then re-graded following AASHTO M320 and AASHTO MP19-10. The recovered asphalt binder grades were found to be higher than the target grades due to the existence of RAP materials in the mixtures except for asphalt binders extracted from WMA mixtures produced using "RAPCAP" additive.