Asphalt pavement cracking represents a prevalent form of deterioration that significantly compromises road performance and safety under the combined effects of environmental factors and traffic loading. Crack sealing has emerged as a widely adopted and cost-effective preventive maintenance strategy that restores the pavement’s structural integrity and extends service life. This paper presents a systematic review of the development of crack sealing technology, conducts a comparative analysis of conventional sealing materials (including emulsified asphalt, hot-applied asphalt, polymer-modified asphalt, and rubber-modified asphalt), and examines the existing performance evaluation methodologies. Critical failure mechanisms are thoroughly investigated, including interfacial bond failure resulting from construction defects, material aging and degradation, hydrodynamic scouring effects, and thermal cycling impacts. Additionally, this review examines advanced sensing methodologies for detecting premature sealant failure, encompassing both non-destructive testing techniques and active sensing technologies utilizing intelligent crack sealing materials with embedded monitoring capabilities. Based on current research gaps, this paper identifies future research directions to guide the development of intelligent and sustainable asphalt pavement crack repair technologies. The proposed research framework provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to improve the long-term effectiveness of pavement maintenance strategies.

In the past, most researchers have explained the three-stage creep behavior of asphalt mixture in detail. Still, there is no reasonable model to describe the creep of the consolidation effect. To accurately describe the consolidation effect of an asphalt mixture during the viscoelastic deformation process, a modified time hardening model was established by using the Malthus model and the Logistic function to change its creep strain and creep compliance. According to the characteristics of asphalt mixture creep, a single penetration creep test was conducted for high-elasticity modified asphalt mixtures at different temperatures (20 °C, 40 °C, 60 °C) and various loading levels (0.55 MPa, 0.70 MPa, 0.85 MPa, 1.00 MPa). The test results showed that the effect of stress on deformation within the normal range of variation was more significant than that of temperature. In addition, the test results were simulated by the modified time hardening model using surface fitting and compared with a time hardening model and a modified Burgers model. A fitting analysis showed that the modified time hardening model more accurately represents the asphalt mixture’s consolidation effect and creep behavior. Therefore, the modified time hardening model can better show the consolidation effect in the creep process.