Low-temperature organic phase change material microcapsules for asphalt pavement: preparation, characterisation and application

Abstract

Low-temperature phase change material (PCM) is a material that stores additional heat at elevated temperatures and releases energy when the temperature is below the limit. A way to solve the low-temperature disaster of asphalt pavement is desired to be developed. In this article, a two-component organic low-temperature PCM was encapsulated by melamine-urea-formaldehyde resin and finally reinforced with polypropylene. The reinforced PCM microcapsules were mixed with 70# SBS (Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene) modified asphalt in SMA-10 (Stone Matrix Asphalt-10) to form aggregates. The results showed that after adding 6.0% (w/w) reinforced PCM microcapsules, there was a significant delay compared to a blank sample with a maximum temperature difference of 1.8 °C when the temperature dropped to 0 °C, which proved that this method has a good potential in resisting low-temperature disasters on asphalt pavement and deserves further improvement.

Keywords:

• Organic phase change material
• microcapsule
• asphalt pavement
• low-temperature disaster
• polypropylene

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 51622805 and U1633116], the opening fund for the subject of Transportation Engineering in Tongji University [2016J012306] and Research Project of Yunan Department of Transportation [Grant No.2016(A)16].