Review of ultraviolet ageing mechanisms and anti-ageing methods for asphalt binders

Asphalt binder is inevitably aged by ultraviolet(UV)light during its service period.UV ageing can significantly decrease the technical properties of asphalt binder.The sensitivity of asphalt to UV ageing and thermal-oxidative ageing differs,such that the UV ageing performance cannot be determined based on the thermal-oxidative ageing performance.Previous researches mainly focused on the chemical composite and technical performance changes of asphalt binder during UV ageing,and the UV light parameters effect on the ageing rate of asphalt binder.However,the theory for characterizing and explaining the development of UV ageing depth does not get too much attentions,and the UV ageing mechanism of asphalt binder is not very clear.Therefore,it cannot guide to develop or select the good methods or anti-UV ageing additives for asphalt binders.This paper focuses on the latest researches of the mechanisms and anti-ageing methods of asphalt binders.With the increase of UV ageing time,the UV ageing of asphalt binder develops gradually from the surface to inner part.There are various methods,such as low-penetration grade asphalt,less air void ratio,UV stabilizers and UV light absorbers,that can improve the UV ageing resistance of asphalt binders.A new theory of sensitive wavelengths of asphalt UV ageing is proposed,which can enrich the basic theory of asphalt UV ageing.Depending on this theory,different wavelengths of UV light have different ageing effects on asphalt binder.The composite anti-UV ageing additives with barrier and specific absorption effects on UV light is proposed,and may have better improvement effect on the anti-UV ageing performance of asphalt binder.

Assessing the Ageing Impact on Fatigue-Life of Asphalt Concrete

The fatigue-life of asphalt concrete is often related to environmental condition,loading condition,ageing,material composition and properties.This work investigates the influence of short and long term ageing of laboratory beam specimens,asphalt percent,and testing temperature on fatigue life of asphalt concrete wearing course.Slab samples of(30 × 40 × 6)cm have been prepared,beam specimens of(40 × 5 × 6)cm were extracted from the asphalt concrete slab samples and tested for fatigue-life under the impact of three levels of micro strain(250,400,and[3]750)at(5,20,and 30)℃ before and after practicing long-term aging.It was observed that the fatigue-life decreased by(85 and 97)%,(87.5 and 97.4)%,(71.4 and 95.2)%after increasing the applied microstrain from(250 to 400 and 750)μƐfor control mixture and for mixtures subjected to shortand long-term ageing processes respectively.The fatigue-life increased by(142.8 and 257.1)%,(34.4 and 57.8)%and(10 and 30)%when the asphalt content increased from(4.4 to 4.9 and 5.4)%for specimens practicing the applied microstrain of(250,400 and 750)μƐrespectively.It can be concluded that the fatigue life increases by a range of(two to fifteen)folds when the testing temperature increases from(5 to 20 and 30)℃ respectively.

Effect of ageing on fatigue properties of asphalt

The fatigue properties of asphalts were investigated after various laboratory simulation ageing tests and outdoor natural exposure ultraviolet radiation ageing,by dynamic shear rheometer(DSR) time sweep fatigue test in constant strain model and a new type of specimen which was introduced to avoid the problem of adhesion failure between rotor and asphalt binder.The results show that outdoor natural exposure ageing(NEA) causes the decrease of retained fatigue life distinctly,and photodegradation caused by outdoor NEA of 1 250 μm thin films asphalt for three months,is found to be severer than pressure ageing vessel(PAV) with respects to retained fatigue life.The effect of photodegradation increases as the time of outdoor NEA increases.DSR time sweep fatigue test in constant strain indicates that the aged styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS) modified asphalt still displays better fatigue properties than the corresponding base asphalt after ageing.

Experimental study of water aging on asphalt during service life of pavements

In order to further simulate the real condition of pavements during the service life,moisture is considered in long-term aging tests based on the existing researches about thermal aging and oxidation aging of asphalt.Water is injected into the pressure aging vessel（PAV）to simulate the aging process during the service life.The performance-based strategic highway research program（SHRP）parameters G/sinδ and S（t）are adopted to evaluate the high-temperature properties and low-temperature properties of the aged asphalt,respectively.The Thailand 90# asphalt,the modified Thailand 90# asphalt and the Shell 70# asphalt are used in the test.It is found that the moisture has a significant influence on parameter G/sinδ when combined with heat and oxygen,so water aging makes high-temperature performance decay more seriously.But the low-temperature performance does not change remarkably after water aging.Since the influences of temperature,oxygen and water are taken into account in the PAV test,the accuracy of asphalt aging tests can be improved and the long-term aging process of asphalt pavement can be exactly simulated.

Evaluation of rutting and low-temperature cracking resistancesof warm-mix recycled asphalt bindersunder the secondary aging condition

The rutting and low-temperature resistances of warm-mix recycled asphalt binders under the secondary aging condition were measured by the dynamic shear rheometer test and bending beam rheometer test.Effects of different types of warm-mix asphalt(WMA)technologies and additives were evaluated.Aging and improvement mechanisms were investigated by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy test.It is found that recycled binders after the secondary aging are more resistant to rutting and less resistant to low-temperature cracking.The two warm-mix asphalt technologies have opposite effects.Using the Sasobit WMA significantly improves the rutting resistance and reduces the low temperature resistance for the recycled binders due to its morphological change at different temperatures.The rutting factor values of recycled asphalt binders with the Sasobit additive increase by 4.6 to 5.6 times.However,using the Evotherm WMA causes the deterioration of the rutting resistance due to the structural lubrication effect.The rutting factor values of recycled asphalt binders with the Evotherm additive show the reduction of 52%to 62%.It is recommended to add the styrene butadiene rubber latex or crumb rubber powder into the warm-mix recycled asphalt binders to simultaneously improve the rutting and low-temperature cracking resistances.

Effects of Moisture on Rheological Properties of PAV Aged Asphalt Binders

For the most coastal areas where the air is very humid,study on the effect of humidity on the performance of asphalt has its practical significance.However,limited research has been done to investigate the effect of humidity on rheological properties of asphalt.In this study,asphalt binders were aged in the pressure aging vessel(PAV)under different conditions of moisture and aging time.Then Dynamic Shear Rheometer(DSR)and Bending Beam Rheometer(BBR)measurements were conducted to obtain the parameters relating to the complex modulus,phase angle,failure temperature,and creep stiffness.It was found that the low temperature performance decreased as evidenced by the results of the creep stiffness.While there were no significant differences among conditioned binders based on complex modulus G*and phase angleδ,it was found that theδvalue increased when the humidity increased from 0% to 80% ,and then theδvalue decreased when the humidity increased to 100% .In addition,the results of the failure temperature indicated that the humidity of 80% would be a critical point for the high temperature performance of the asphalt binders.

Influence of rejuvenators on bitumen ageing in hot recycled asphalt mixtures

The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement （RAP） in new hot mix asphalt （HMA） by means of hot recycling techniques generates the advantage linked to the exploitation of both lytic and bituminous component, consequently leading to the decrease of both virgin aggregates and bitumen supplying. However, many agencies and public administration authorise RAP percentages ranges from 10% to 30% in hot recycling. The main reason for such a low amount of allowable RAP content is related to the aged bitumen contained in the RAP materials, which is more brittle than a virgin bitumen leading to a final mixture more susceptible to fatigue, thermal and reflection cracking. The use of rejuvenators has the potential to restore rheology and chemical components of aged RAP bitumen, thus allowing a significant increase in the amount of RAP to be properly implemented in HMA. The experimental investigation is described in this paper and carried out through a dynamic shear rheometer （DSR） which provides the rheological characterisation of a paving grade bitumen during its overall service life including its reuse in hot recycling by adopting different rejuvenators. Results show that rejuvenators modify bitumen chemistry and consequently rheology by enhancing the viscous response. Moreover, it was observed that oxidation is less harmful, in terms of stiffness increase, on the 50/50 aged bitumen - virgin bitumen blends （rejuvenated or not） than on the virgin bitumen. Moreover, the addition of a rejuvenator in a bituminous blend containing 50% of bitumen reactivated from RAP could lead to a corresponding composite bituminous phase less subjected to ageing phenomena and even less stiff at the end of service life than the associated virgin bitumen alone.

Analysis of Aging Mechanism of SBS Polymer Modified Asphalt based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrum

The aging mechanism of SBS modified asphalt during its aging process was studied.The characterizations of base asphalt,SBS polymer and its modified asphalt were determined in different aging time by Fourier transform infrared spectrum（FTIR）.FTIR shows that oxidative dehydrogenation reaction occurs in asphalt,and unsaturated carbon bond is generated under short-term thermal aging condition.Additionally,SBS polymer was aged significantly under that condition,the speed of which was faster than that of base asphalt.The aging laws of both asphalt and SBS polymer during the aging process of SBS modified asphalt were similar to their aging laws respectively.Due to the protective effect between asphalt and SBS polymer,the aging degrees of asphalt and SBS polymer were lower than those aged independently.

Effect of moisture on the aging behavior of asphalt binder

The moisture aging effect and mechanism of asphalt binder during the in-service life of pavement were investigated by laboratory simulating tests.Pressure aging vessel（PAV） test simulating the long-term aging of binder during the in-service life of pavement was modified to capture the long-term moisture aging effect of binder.Penetration grade tests including penetration test,soften point test,and ductility test as well as SuperpaveTM performance grade tests including viscosity test,dynamic shear rheometer test,and bending beam rheometer test were conducted to fully evaluate the moisture aging effect of binder.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy test and Gel-permeation chromatography test were applied to provide a fundamental understanding of the moisture aging mechanism of binder.The results indicate that moisture condition can accelerate the aging of asphalt binder and shorten the service life of asphalt binder.The modified PAV test with moisture condition can well characterize the moisture aging properties of asphalt binder.

Effect of Ultraviolet Aging on Asphalt Rheological Properties

This paper simulated the ultraviolet aging process of asphalt and used dynamic mechanic analysis （DMA） method to evaluate the effect of ultraviolet aging on the asphalt theological properties. After having experienced ultravio- let aging, the low temperature performance of asphalt binder decreased significantly, with its complex modulus increased and phase angle decreased along with changing rheological properties as compared to the performance of original asphalt binder. The ultraviolet aging process would make asphalt binder more sensitive to brittle and fatigue failure. On the basis of the time-temperature superposition principle （TTSP）, the viscoelastic transition frequency （coT） is proposed to evaluate the effect of ultraviolet aging. It is found that with the increase in ultraviolet aging time, the cox moves to the lower frequency range gradually. Since the viscoelastic transition frequency is sensitive to the effect of aging, it can be used as an indicator of ultraviolet aging.

Measured and Predicted Aging Properties of Arizona Asphalt Binders

The Arizona Department of Transportation （ADOT） in the USA conducted a series of asphalt aging related research and special studies between the 1970s and 1990s. The studies covered over 157 test sections representing both neat （virgin） asphalt and crumb rubber modified （asphalt-rubber） binders. The data comprised of a wide range of penetration, viscosity, and Performance Grade （PG） parameters, at original and aged conditions. In the late 1990s, asphalt PG complex shear modulus （G＊）, and phase angle （5） data were collected. The main purpose of this paper was to use the assembled database of the field core-aged asphalt test data and compare the test results to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide （MEPDG） predictive modeled asphalt properties such as penetration and viscosity, G＊, and 5. Furthermore, G＊ and laboratory measurements on neat and asphalt-rubber binders extracted from the field cores of the pavement sections aged ten or more years were compared to the pressure aging vessel PG G＊ and ~. values. It was observed that the MEPDG predicted asphalt binder properties were rational for originally （tank） sampled binders, but fairly correlated for the aged binders. Additionally, penetration and viscosity aging indices representing over 20 years of field aged sections were established for a wide variety of asphalt binder grades. Overall, the relationships for aging indices were meaningful and rational. Results of this research indicated the degree of difficulty in predicting asphalt binder properties for pavements with ten or more years of field aging. The findings from this research study are envisioned to be of substantial value in future asphalt binder aging studies.

Advances in Aging and Anti-Aging Research on Rubber-Modified Asphalt and Asphalt Mixtures

Waste rubber-modified asphalt has good anti-aging properties and can significantly improve the service life of asphalt pavements. For domestic and foreign scholars of rubber modified asphalt thermal oxygen aging, photo-oxidative aging and water aging some behavioural research, and rubber asphalt aging after the characteristics of the research progress are reviewed. Especially rubber-modified asphalt after light, water and other multi-factor agingsituations, the aging situation is more serious, for rubber-modified asphalt mixture aging, rubber asphalt anti-aging process research and analysis means are still very few, the future research must have more thinking.

Rheological characteristics of aged asphalt binder

Different aging levels(RTFOT,PAV-10h,PAV-20h and PAV-30 h) of asphalt binders with various mass ratios of mineral powder to asphalt(0,0.4,0.8,1.2,1.6,2.0) were used to investigate the rheological properties of aged asphalt binders with respect to their short and long terms aging characteristics.Viscosity test,dynamic shear test and creep test were conducted.The test results indicate that the viscosity of aged asphalt binder increases sharply with the extension of aging period.Complex shear modulus of aged asphalt increases,which indicates that the stiffness of asphalt binders can increase.The phase angle for aged asphalt binders reduces,which indicates that the elastic portion for viscoelastic property of asphalt binders increases.|G*|·sin δ increases after aging procedure which means that the fatigue resistance becomes poor.The creep test results show that creep strain curves varies remarkably for virgin and aged asphalt binders.The total strain during loading period and the permanent strain decreases significantly for aged asphalt binders,which implies that the elastic portion increases and the viscous portion decreases.

Long term performance of warm mix asphalt versus hot mix asphalt

The fatigue behavior, indirect tensile strength （ITS） and resilient modulus test results for warm mix asphalt （WMA） as well as hot mix asphalt （HMA） at different ageing levels were evaluated. Laboratory-prepared samples were aged artificially in the oven to simulate short-term and long term ageing in accordance with AASHTO R30 and then compared with unaged specimens. Beam fatigue testing was performed using beam specimens at 25 ℃ based on AASHTO T321 standard. Fatigue life, bending stiffness and dissipated energy for both unaged and aged mixtures were calculated using four-point beam fatigue test results. Three-point bending tests were performed using semi-circular bend （SCB） specimens at -10 ℃ and the critical mode I stress intensity factor K1 was then calculated using the peak load obtained from the load-displacement curve. It is observed that Sasobit and Rheofalt warm mix asphalt additives have a significant effect on indirect tensile strength, resilient modulus, fatigue behavior and stress intensity factor of aged and unaged mixtures.

Rheological Properties of Asphalt Modified by Supramolecular UV Resistant Material-LDHs

Dynamic rheological properties of asphalt modified by Supramolecular UV resistant material—layered double hydroxides（LDHs） was studied by means of the dynamic shear rheometer（DSR） test.Two typical base asphalts were chosen and modified by 2 different LDHs contents.DSR tests were performed on the original samples,samples after exposed to outdoor and samples after the artificial accelerated UV aging tests respectively to analyze the rheological properties.It is found that when the LDHs content is between 3wt% and 5wt% of asphalt weight,the high temperature performance and fatigue resistant property of the modified asphalt become better,the UV aging resistance properties are improved.

Ageing and performance of warm mix asphalt pavements

This paper presents results from investigating the ageing behaviour and performance of different warm mix asphalt （WMA） pavement mixtures also called energy reduced pavements. The mixtures were either prepared in the laboratory or taken directly from a mixing plant. The study compared the rutting and fatigue behaviours of unaged material in comparison to long term laboratory aged material. In order to conduct the long term ageing, a special laboratory ageing protocol with different heating, cooling and watering cycles had been developed. The investigation revealed a quite controversial rutting behavior which could not be explained with the available data. While most aged energy reduced pavements showed increased rutting for other mixtures, lower rut depths could be found. As opposed to this finding, fatigue and stiffness of all aged energy reduced pave- ment samples compared to unaged samples improved significantly. The overall results led to the conclusion that the ageing of energy reduced pavement simulated in the laboratory is not very critical regarding their mechanical performance. Therefore, it was confrmed that the application of this type of pavement provides a good solution for saving on CO2 emissions. Another advantage is that by using energy reduced pavements the road con- struction season can be significantly prolonged.

Modification of FCC slurry oil and deoiled asphalt for making high-grade paving asphalt

With the rapid development of modern industry,high-grade paving asphalt is massively required to meet the demands for modern transportation.As one of additives,natural asphalt is indispensable since it can improve the performance of paving asphalt in all aspects.However,the application of non-renewable natural asphalt is increasingly restricted by its limited reserves.It is imperative to find alternative approaches to produce high-grade paving asphalt.Fluid catalytic cracking(FCC)slurry oil is an ideal soft component for producing paving asphalt due to its high content of aromatics and resins.However,its bad ageing resistance limits its application to only low-grade paving asphalt.In the present work,a novel approach for producing high-grade paving asphalt was investigated using chemically modified FCC slurry oil and deoiled asphalt(DOA).The FT-IR and NMR results showed that dehydrogenation and condensation reaction occurred during the ageing process.From a series of aliphatic alcohols and aldehydes,propanal was selected as a proper modifier to improve the ageing resistance of FCC slurry oil.The propanalmodified slurry oil possessed more substituted aromatic units and less aromatic hydrogen atoms than other modified slurry oils,thus showing better ageing resistance.With the increase of length of aliphatic chains in modifier,the modified slurry oil contained more and longer alkyl substituent group on aromatics.Compared with the cross-linked oil(slurry oil modified by cross-linking agent),modified slurry oil possessed similar ageing resistance but higher flowing ability.Also,the effect of operation conditions on the kinematic viscosity of modified slurry oil were investigated.Blended with modified slurry oil,the penetration ratio of asphalt product increased from 53.7 to 66.2,which met the standard of 70#paving asphalt.Both the microscopic observations and FT-IR results indicated that modification process effectively reduced the oxidation degree of asphalt product,thus increasing the ageing resistance.Consequently,with aid of this process,high-grade paving asphalt was readily produced from low value oil from downstream products of refinery,instead of the depleting natural asphalt.

Improvement of Asphalt Properties Using Polymethyl Methacrylate

Increasing traffic loading and volumes on roads have led to the use of polymer modified binders to improve the performance of bitumen in terms of strength, durability, and resistance to rutting. This research studies the effect of adding poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) with different molecular weights on asphalt properties. PMMA polymer was prepared via solution polymerization of MMA using dibenzoyl peroxide (DBPO) as initiator. By controlling the time of reaction, two different molecular weights were obtained: PMMA1 and PMMA2 with Mw 21.000 and 30.000, respectively. The morphological studies of polymer modified binder were discussed. Physical properties of PMMA modified asphalt including penetration value, softening point, and kinematic viscosity at 135°C and 150°C were examined. The aging properties of polymer modified asphalts were examined using thin film oven test (TFOT). A hot storage stability test was carried out for polymer modified binder. Indirect tensile strength (ITS) test and durability performance of modified asphalts were evaluated using Marshall Test. Resilient modulus (RM) test was evaluated using Universal Testing Machine. Results showed that the inclusion of PMMA polymer in asphalt binder has significantly improved its properties. The achieved improvement was found to be dependent on polymer molecular weight. Moreover, the results explained that the compatibility between PMMA and asphalt binder is improved upon further aging especially with low molecular weight polymer (PMMA).

Aging properties and aging mechanism of activated waste rubber powder modified asphalt binder based on rheological properties and micro-characterization

The research and development of high-performance pavement materials has been intensified owing to the demand for long-life pavements.This study is performed to develop a novel pavement material using waste rubber powder,waste lubricating by-product(LBP),and asphalt.Subsequently,the aging properties and aging mechanism of activated waste rubber powder modified asphalt(ARMA)are investigated based on its rheological properties and microcharacterization.The rheological results show that,compared with waste rubber powder modified asphalt(RMA),ARMA offers a higher aging resistance and a longer fatigue life.A comparison and analysis of the rheological aging parameters of ARMA and RMA show that LBP activation diminishes the aging sensitivity of ARMA.The microcharacterization result shows that the aging of ARMA may be caused by the fact that LBP-activated waste rubber powder is more reactive and can form a dense colloidal structure with asphalt.Therefore,the evaporation loss of asphalt light components by heat and the damage to the colloidal structure by oxygen during the aging process are impeded,and the thermal-oxidative aging resistance of ARMA is improved.

Development and Validation of a Laboratory Aging Method for the Accelerated Simulation of Reclaimed Asphalt

The paper presented first results elaborated during the European Research Project Re-road which aims at the development of techniques for increasing the recycling rates of reclaimed asphalt. During service life surface asphalt courses are subjected to aging due to oxidation effects which causes the hardening of the binder and thereby a change in the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the material. Surface courses often contain highly modified binders as well as special additives for improving the performance characteristics. As these layers inhibit the shortest service lives compared to other road construction layers every year high amounts of reclaimed surface asphalt are available for recycling. The question is raised how the reclaimed asphalt consisting of high quality and costly material components can be recycled for optimal added value. To analyze the asphalt mix service life performance and its recyclability during mix design a laboratory method was developed to simulate the real in-situ aging. First the effects of site aging on the binder and asphalt characteristics were presented. Three laboratory aging methods were discussed which aimed the accelerated aging which meets similar property changes as site aging. At last the effects of two different laboratory aging methods on the same SMA mixture were compared.