Microwave healing and deicing of asphalt pavements containing industrial slags: Towards intelligent and sustainable road winter maintenance

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School of Engineering | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-04-11
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Authors

Date

2025

Department

Rakennustekniikan laitos
Department of Civil Engineering

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

84 + app. 64

Series

Aalto University publication series Doctoral Theses, 55/2025

Abstract

Due to the unique geographical and climatic conditions of the Nordic regions, roads are particularly vulnerable to low-temperature damage, resulting in early pavement cracking and ice formation. Microwave heating (MH), an advanced and sustainable winter maintenance technique, can enhance the self-healing behavior and deicing efficiency of asphalt pavements. Additionally, substituting road aggregates with certain waste slags that exhibit superior strength and wave-absorbing properties can improve MH sensitivity while reducing the reliance on natural aggregates. Against this backdrop, this thesis focuses on enhancing the self-healing and deicing efficiency of asphalt pavements using MH technology. The healing efficiency of asphalt pavements is evaluated through cyclic cracking-healing-cracking tests under varying conditions, including heating time, power, and cycle. The static magnetic and electromagnetic properties of different waste slags are analysed to identify the optimal wave-absorbing slag. Microwave deicing performance, carbon emissions, and cost-benefit analyses are conducted on asphalt pavements containing varying amounts of slags under different freezing temperatures and ice thicknesses. A thermal camera is employed to monitor surface temperature changes, shedding light on the temperature transfer mechanism during the healing and deicing processes. Furthermore, the binders are extracted to compare their properties and assess the damage caused by freeze-thaw (FT) cycles and MH. The findings reveal that appropriate heating time and power significantly enhance the effective healing area, achieving a healing efficiency exceeding 80%. However, healed samples remain susceptible to re-cracking. The microwave-absorbing properties of waste slags are influenced by heating frequency, with steel slag demonstrating superior static magnetic and microwave absorption performance at 2.45 GHz (the frequency used in this study), making it a recommended material for pavement design. The deicing efficiency is affected by the moisture generated by melting ice, leading to discrepancies between ideal and actual ice-melting time. Moreover, while incorporating steel slag can result in uneven heating, reducing deicing efficiency at higher slag contents, steel slag asphalt pavement still achieves significantly higher microwave deicing efficiency compared to conventional pavements. Additionally, steel slag asphalt pavements produce comparable carbon emissions but offer substantial economic cost benefits. Lastly, FT cycles accelerate aging in neat binders, negatively impacting their performance, while polymer-modified binders exhibit more stable performance, making them more suitable for MH applications. This thesis proposes a self-healing and deicing asphalt mixture design that considers multiple environmental factors and provides practical solutions for waste slag utilization. The research findings contribute to improved road maintenance efficiency, reduced dependence on nonrenewable resources, and significant environmental and economic benefits.

Description

Supervising professor

Lin, Weiwei, Assoc. Prof., Aalto University, Department of Civil Engineering, Finland

Thesis advisor

Cannone Falchetto, Augusto, Assoc. Prof., University or Padova, Italy

Keywords

asphalt pavement, winter distresses, microwave heating, industrial slag, binder performance variation

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Zhang, Fan; Sun, Yuxuan; Kong, Lingyun; Cannone Falchetto, Augusto; Yuan, Dongdong; Wang, Weina. 2024. Study on Multiple Effects of Self-Healing Properties and Thermal Characteristics of Asphalt Pavement. MDPI. Buildings, volume 14, issue 5, pages 1313. ISSN 2075-5309.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202406054123
    DOI: 10.3390/buildings14051313 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Zhang, Fan; Jia, Meng; Kong, Lingyun; Cannone Falchetto, Augusto; Gao, Junfeng; Wang, Weina. 2025. Zhang, F., Jia, M., Kong, L., Sun, Y., Cannone Falchetto, A., Gao, J., & Wang, W. (2025). Utilizing Steelmaking By-Products for Pavement Deicing: A Sustainable Waste Management Approach in Circular Economy. Springer Nature. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 1-15. ISSN 1877-2641.
    DOI: 10.1007/s12649-025-02917-w View at publisher
  • [Publication 3]: Zhang, Fan; Wang, Di; Cannone Falchetto, Augusto; Cao, Yangsen. Microwave deicing properties and carbon emissions assessment of asphalt mixtures containing steel slag towards resource conservation and waste reuse. 2024. Elsevier. Science of the Total Environment, volume 912, pages 169189. ISSN 1879-1026.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202401171578
    DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169189 View at publisher
  • [Publication 4]: Zhang, Fan; Cannone Falchetto, Augusto; Yuan, Dongdong; Wang, Wentong; Wang, Di; Sun, Yuxuan. 2024. Research on performance variations of different asphalt binders results from microwave heating during freeze-thaw cycles. Elsevier. Construction and Building Materials, volume 448, pages 138280. ISSN: 1879-0526.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202409186414
    DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.138280 View at publisher

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https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-2448-4

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