The RILEM Technical Committee 252 CMB on Chemo-Mechanical
Characterization of Bituminous Materials was launched in Stockholm in
June 2013 by Niki Kringos and Lily Poulikakos. The TC was active for 5 years
(2013–2018) and intended to combine chemical and mechanical characterization of
bituminous materials in order to gain a better understanding of the behavior of this
complex material. Through the cooperative effort facilitated through Rilem, it was
possible to bring more visibility to this field of research which in a traditionally
construction field is not always easy to do. Applying chemo-mechanics allows us to
gain a better understanding of the long-term behavior of traditional and new
materials such as high RAP mixtures and reduced temperature mixtures. Having a
fundamental understanding of the combined chemo-mechanical properties can
greatly enhance the tools used to improve the material’s sustainability and
functionality.
The TC work was primarily focused on the characterization of aging and the
relevance of the current short-term (RTFOT) and long-term aging
(PAV) techniques for new types of mixtures. Two TGs were actively led by
Bernhard Hofko and James Grenfell.
The editors would like to thank all active members of the TC for their continuous
support through participation, supply of materials, and discussions during the TC
meetings. The steering and organizing committees would like to gratefully
acknowledge the contribution of Di Wang, Nina Eßmann, Anna-Lena Gertig, and
Tess Sigwarth in helping to prepare the present collection of papers. The cooperation of the scientific committee in reviewing the contributions to the symposium is
greatly appreciated.