Physical and aging properties of different bitumens with multi-scale nanomaterials

ABSTRACT

Multi-scale nanomaterials containing surface-modified nano-zinc oxide and organic-expanded vermiculite were adopted to modify three types of bitumen (named as 70#, 90#, and 110# bitumen). Thin-film oven test (TFOT), pressure aging vessel (PAV), ultraviolet (UV) radiation were used to age all binders. The influence of multi-scale nanomaterials on physical properties of all binders before and after aging was investigated. The results show that the softening point and viscosity of three bitumens increase while penetration and ductility decrease after adding multi-scale nanomaterials. As a result of TFOT, PAV, and UV aging, multi-scale nanomaterials can significantly enhance thermal-oxidative and photo-oxidative aging resistance of three bitumens. Compared to 70# and 90# bitumens, the improvement of multi-scale nanomaterials on aging properties of 110# bitumen is the most remarkable.

KEYWORDS:

• bitumen
• multi-scale nanomaterials
• photo-oxidative aging
• physical property
• thermal-oxidative aging

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No. 2017JJ3015) and the Open Fund of State Engineering Laboratory of Highway Maintenance Technology (Changsha University of Science & Technology) (No. kfj150106). The authors gratefully acknowledge their financial support.