Investigating on possible use of Diyarbakir basalt waste in Stone Mastic Asphalt

Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) improved for road construction which has been utilized in Europe and America for 40 years is a rather new process in Turkey. SMA basically consists of 93–94% aggregate and mineral fillers, 6–7% bitumen and additives. Road and construction industry consume stone in large amounts. Stone used are obtained from nearby quarries and carried to the location where they are to be used, destroying the nature and causing large costs. The constantly increasing demand on quarries harms the general structure of the earth thus causing the emergence of large scale environmental problems. The use of basalt waste from stone processing plants as aggregates and mineral filler in SMA might help to meet this increasing demand thus solving environmental problems. In this study, primarily some important material properties of fine and coarse basalt waste, taken from basalt processing plants in Diyarbakir, such as sieve analysis, chemical analysis, specific gravity, water absorption, Los Angeles abrasion loss value, soundness of aggregate by Na2SO4, flakiness index and stripping strength were determined. Then by using this waste material, a SMA was designed according to Turkish Highway Technical Specifications. Marshall stability and flow tests have been carried out on designed SMA specimens. Test results indicate that properties of the basalt waste and the SMA produced were within the specified limits and that these waste materials can be used as aggregates and mineral filler in SMA.