polymers-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Polymer Materials for Pavement Applications

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1073

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Jiangjun Road, Nanjing 211106, China
Interests: warm mix asphalt; recycled asphalt; intelligent detection of asphalt pavement; polymer-modified asphalt

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Key Laborafory of Road and Traffic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
Interests: nondestructive tests for asphalt pavement; pavement performance prediction; pavement structure evaluation; integrated design of pavement materials and structures

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory for Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, South 2nd Ring Road Middle Section, Xi’an 710064, China
Interests: bitumen aging and reclamation of recycled bitumen pavement; in situ tests or nondestructive tests (NDTs) for asphalt mixtures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 16024, China
Interests: in situ tests or nondestructive tests for asphalt mixtures; ecological road engineering technologies; green intelligent road materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environment Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576, Singapore
Interests: pavement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer materials represent a significant advancement in modern pavement engineering, delivering improved performance and sustainability benefits. By incorporating polymers into pavement systems, engineers have successfully addressed longstanding challenges, including rutting, cracking, and durability issues across diverse environmental conditions. As our cities grow and traffic intensifies, the demand for innovative, high-performance pavement materials becomes ever more urgent.

Recent years have witnessed remarkable progress in polymer-modified materials for pavement applications. These innovations include polymer-modified asphalt binders, geosynthetic reinforcements, and polymer-enhanced concrete. Compared to traditional materials, these polymer-based alternatives demonstrate superior mechanical strength, weather resistance, and extended service life. Despite these advances, we still need more comprehensive research to understand how these materials perform under real-world conditions and how they behave over extended periods.

This Special Issue, titled "Polymer Materials for Pavement Applications," seeks to showcase pioneering research and technological innovations in the field of polymer-based pavement materials. We invite submissions on various aspects of polymer applications in pavement engineering, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Development and testing of polymer-modified binders and mixtures;
  • Environmental impact studies and lifecycle assessments of polymer-based pavement solutions;
  • Innovative uses of recycled polymers in road construction and rehabilitation projects;
  • Studies on the aging process and long-term durability of polymer-modified pavements;
  • Analysis of how polymer-modified asphalt responds to different loads and environmental factors;
  • Real-world performance data from polymer-enhanced pavement installations;
  • New testing methods and predictive models to evaluate polymer-modified pavement materials.

This Special Issue provides an opportunity for researchers, engineers, and industry professionals to exchange knowledge about recent discoveries, methodologies, and practical applications that enhance our understanding and implementation of polymer materials in pavement engineering. We encourage you to contribute your valuable research to this dynamic and evolving field.

Dr. Weiying Wang
Dr. Ruikang Yang
Dr. Chengwei Xing
Dr. Mingchen Li
Dr. Zhanchuang Han
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymer-modified asphalt
  • polymer-modified asphalt mixture
  • polymer materials in road infrastructure
  • recycled polymer materials
  • sustainable polymer additives
  • environmental performance
  • pavement durability

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 2365 KiB  
Article
The Improvement of Road Performance of Foam Asphalt Cold Recycled Mixture Based on Interface Modification
by Han Zhao, Yuheng Chen, Wenyi Zhou, Yichao Ma, Zhuo Chen and Junyan Yi
Polymers 2025, 17(14), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17141927 - 13 Jul 2025
Viewed by 388
Abstract
With the increasing demand for highway maintenance, enhancing the resource utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has become an urgent and widely studied issue. Although foam asphalt cold recycling technology offers significant benefits in terms of resource utilization and energy saving, it still [...] Read more.
With the increasing demand for highway maintenance, enhancing the resource utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has become an urgent and widely studied issue. Although foam asphalt cold recycling technology offers significant benefits in terms of resource utilization and energy saving, it still faces challenges, particularly the poor stability of foam asphalt mixtures. This study focuses on optimizing the performance of foam asphalt recycled mixtures through interface modification, aiming to promote the widespread application of foam asphalt cold recycling technology. Specifically, the research follows these steps: First, the optimal mix ratio of the recycled mixtures was determined based on the fundamental properties of foam asphalt and RAP. Then, zinc oxide, silane coupling agents, and amine anti-stripping agents were introduced to modify the recycled mixtures. At last, a series of tests were conducted to comprehensively evaluate improvements in road performance. The results indicate that the silane coupling agent enhances the low-temperature performance and fatigue. The fracture energy reached 526.71 J/m2. Zinc oxide improves the low-temperature cracking resistance and dry shrinkage performance. Amine anti-stripping agents have minimal impact on the low-temperature performance. The linear shrinkage was reduced by 2.6%. The results of TOPSIS indicated that silane coupling agent modification exhibits superior fatigue resistance and low-temperature performance, achieving the highest comprehensive score of 0.666. Although amine-based anti-stripping agents improve fatigue life, they are not suitable for modifying foamed asphalt mixtures due to their detrimental effects on low-temperature performance and moisture resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Materials for Pavement Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

42 pages, 9679 KiB  
Review
Recent Research Progress on Polyurethane Solid–Solid Phase Change Materials
by Ziqiang Wang, Jingjing Xiao, Tengkun Yao and Menghao Wang
Polymers 2025, 17(14), 1933; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17141933 - 14 Jul 2025
Viewed by 543
Abstract
Research on phase change materials (PCMs) is booming in the context of global energy structure transitions and the challenge of dealing with temperature fluctuations in engineering materials. Polyurethane solid–solid phase change materials (PUSSPCMs) show great potential for thermal energy storage and temperature regulation [...] Read more.
Research on phase change materials (PCMs) is booming in the context of global energy structure transitions and the challenge of dealing with temperature fluctuations in engineering materials. Polyurethane solid–solid phase change materials (PUSSPCMs) show great potential for thermal energy storage and temperature regulation because of their designable molecular structure, no risk of leakage, and high bulk stability. In this paper, the recent research progress on PUSSPCMs is systematically reviewed. Starting from the material system, the core preparation process of the PUSSPCMs was elucidated. At the performance improvement level, related performance studies on PUSSPCMs are systematically summarized, focusing on the introduction of dynamic covalent bonds and a nanofiller composite strategy to enhance the thermophysical properties of the materials. At the application level, innovative studies and thermomodulation advantages of PUSSPCMs in different fields are summarized. Finally, for green development, multifunctionalization, and bottlenecks in the scale-up preparation of PUSSPCMs, future research directions for balancing the performance requirements, conducting multi-scale simulations, and exploring green materials are proposed to provide theoretical references for the development and application of high-performance PUSSPCMs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Materials for Pavement Applications)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop