Evaluating the bond strength and work of fracture of bituminous mastic using the Taguchi method

The object of this study is to investigate the bond strength and work of fracture of bituminous mastic using Pull-off adhesion test. Regarding this issue, the Taguchi's Design of Experiment was employed to evaluate the effect of different parameters, inducing the type of filler, filler content and film thickness on the characteristics of bituminous mastic. In addition, utilising the digital image correlation method the displacement of the specimens during the test was measured, and then work of fracture was determined using the obtained force–displacement curve. The results showed that among the three parameters, as mentioned above, the film thickness influenced greatly on the characteristics of bituminous mastic, and the Bituminous Mastic Bond Strength (BMBS) and work of fracture were decreased by increase in film thickness. The type of filler also affected the characteristics of the bituminous mastic, where the bituminous mastic incorporating Air Cooled Copper Slag had the higher BMBS and work of fracture values. Moreover, BMBS decreased by increment of filler content.