A literature review: asphalt pavement repair technologies and materials

Asphalt pavement is the most widely used type of pavement in the world and is mainly utilised in the construction of infrastructures such as highways, urban roads, parking lots and airstrips. Pavement maintenance technology and materials are gradually developing towards systematisation and diversification with the extensive use of asphalt pavement. Choosing more economical technologies and fast and sustainable materials is the future of asphalt pavement maintenance work. This paper provides an overview of asphalt pavement repair technology and asphalt pavement repair materials. It categorises and summarises pavement repair technologies, which include cost-effective technologies such as crack sealing, overlay, seal coats and hot in-place recycling. Further, it summarises the repair materials applied in repair technologies and compares the performance, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of these materials. The study shows that asphalt and cement are the most commonly used repair materials. The higher-potential, more economical and more sustainable materials for asphalt pavement repair include epoxy resin, polyurethane and hydrogel. The future of asphalt pavement repair requires advancing towards rapid, sustainable, environmentally friendly and economical repairs. A survey indicates that in addition to improving the performance of existing repair materials (e.g. modified asphalt, binder processes, material composition or ratios), attention can be given to new materials such as polyurethanes and hydrogels that have the potential for rapid repair and are low cost. More research can be done to perfect the application of new materials in road engineering.