Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr 12;9(21):11602-11613.
doi: 10.1039/c9ra00645a.

Impact of asphalt aging temperature on chemo-mechanics

Poulikakos L D  1 , Cannone Falchetto A  2 , Wang D  2 , Porot L  3 , Hofko B  4
Affiliations

Impact of asphalt aging temperature on chemo-mechanics

Poulikakos L D et al. RSC Adv. .

Abstract

As the use of warm and cold asphalt mixing technologies provides an opportunity to save energy during production, it is important to determine if this lower mixing temperature also has a long-term effect on the binder chemical and rheological properties and performance. In this study, a link between the chemistry and rheology of bituminous binders with a focus on short-term aging temperature is proposed. This link is made using a rheological aging index (RAI), the crossover temperature and a chemical aging index (CAI). The RAI is calculated using the difference in the integration areas under shear modulus master curves generated from Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) data on unaged and aged bitumen. The cross over temperature is defined as that when the material transitions from elastic to viscous behaviour. The CAI is obtained from Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements by combining the carbonyl and sulfoxide indices. In addition, the effect of aging on the molecular size distribution of the binders was evaluated using Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). Two asphalt binders from two sources at two RTFOT aging temperatures 123 °C and 163 °C corresponding to warm mixing and hot mix mixing temperatures respectively were used. The rheological aging index, the chemical aging index and GPC delivered the same trends, showing that the short-term aging temperature has a significant effect on long-term chemical and rheological properties. The extent of this depends on the source as some binders were identified as being more aging resistant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in the work presented in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Principle of the aging index calculated using the area between the aged and unaged master curve at a reference temperature of 20 °C.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Master curves of |G*| vs. reduced frequency at a reference temperature of 20 °C for binder B502 in virgin state, after RTFOT at 123 °C, 163 °C (condition B) and consequent PAV aging (condition C).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Master curves of |G*| vs. reduced frequency at a reference temperature of 20 °C for binder B504 in virgin state, after RTFOT at 123 °C, 163 °C (condition B) and consequent PAV aging (condition C).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Cross over temperature of B502 and B504 at various aging states.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Relationship between crossover temperature and complex modulus at conventional reference frequency of 1.59 Hz (10 rad s−1) for binders B502 and B504.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. GPC chromatogram of bitumen B501.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7. GPC chromatogram of bitumen B504.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8. FTIR spectra of binder B502 in unaged and aged states (a); close-up of the sulfoxide band (b) and calbonyl band (c).
Fig. 9
Fig. 9. FTIR spectra of binder B504 in unaged and aged states (a); close-up of the sulfoxide band (b) and calbonyl band (c).
Fig. 10
Fig. 10. Chemical aging index (CAI) for binder B502 at different aging states.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11. Chemical aging index (CAI) for binder B504 at different aging states.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12. Chemical aging index (CAI) vs. Rheological Aging Index (RAI) for the two binders B502 (a) and B504 (b) and all data plotted (c).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Petersen J. C. Glaser R. Asphalt Oxidation Mechanisms and the Role of Oxidation Products on Age Hardening Revisited. Road Mater. Pavement Des. 2011;12:795–819. doi: 10.1080/14680629.2011.9713895. doi: 10.1080/14680629.2011.9713895. - DOI - DOI
    1. Lesueur D. The colloidal structure of bitumen: Consequences on the rheology and on the mechanisms of bitumen modification. Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 2009;145:42–82. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2008.08.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lu X. Isacsson U. Effect of ageing on bitumen chemistry and rheology. Constr. Build. Mater. 2002;16:15–22. doi: 10.1016/S0950-0618(01)00033-2. doi: 10.1016/S0950-0618(01)00033-2. - DOI - DOI
    1. Mastrofini D. Scarsella M. The Application of Rheology to the Evaluation of Bitumen Ageing. Fuel. 2000;79(9):1005–1015. doi: 10.1016/S0016-2361(99)00244-6. doi: 10.1016/S0016-2361(99)00244-6. - DOI - DOI
    1. Marsac P. Piérard N. Porot L. Van den bergh W. Grenfell J. Mouillet V. et al., Potential and limits of FTIR methods for reclaimed asphalt characterisation. Mater. Struct. 2014;47:1–14. doi: 10.1617/s11527-014-0248-0. doi: 10.1617/s11527-014-0248-0. - DOI - DOI