Understanding the adhesion properties of carbon nanotube, asphalt binder, and mineral aggregates at the nanoscale: a molecular dynamics study

Abstract

The adhesion properties of mineral aggregates (SiO₂) and carbon nanotube (CNT) are estimated and compared with CNT-saturate, asphaltene, resin, and aromatic (SARA), SARA-SiO₂ , and Graphene-SARA using molecular dynamics (MD) and reactive force field. The effect of electrostatic (ES), van der Waals (vdW) and bonded interactions on the adhesion properties at room temperatures are analyzed. The results show that the strength and work of adhesion for CNT-SARA is lower than Graphene-SARA as they provide less effective area. Also, vdW and ES interactions in SiO₂-SARA and SiO₂-CNT interfaces are equally important, while in CNT-SARA interface only vdW interactions have the major contribution.

Keywords:

• Adhesion
• asphalt binder
• CNT
• interface
• molecular dynamics
• temperature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.