Microscopic Analysis of Aging Effects on the Adhesion Properties between Asphalt and Mineral Aggregate
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 7
Abstract
This research investigated the effect of aging on the adhesion properties between asphalt and aggregate at the molecular level. Based on the molecular dynamics simulation method, the adhesion characteristics of asphalt component representative molecules and bulk asphalt with silica mineral aggregate before and after aging were evaluated in terms of adsorption energy and adhesion work, respectively. In addition, the simulation results were verified using a pull-off test. Results show that the adsorption energy increases after aging, and was most pronounced for the representative molecules of the asphaltene component. In bulk asphalt, the increase of large-mass molecules after aging led to an increase in its adhesion to mineral aggregate. The presence of water greatly weakened the adhesion strength between asphalt and mineral aggregate, and the negative effect of water on the adhesion strength between aged asphalt and mineral aggregate was severer. The pull-off test confirmed that aging enhanced the adhesion strength between asphalt and aggregate, but exacerbated the negative impact of water on the adhesion strength between asphalt and aggregate. The findings promote further understanding of the effect of aging on the adhesion properties of asphalt to mineral aggregate and the water damage mechanism of asphalt mixtures.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This study is partially sponsored by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFB2601000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 52078048 and 51878063). The authors are grateful for the platform provided by Chang’an University.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 7 • July 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 10, 2022
Accepted: Nov 29, 2022
Published online: Apr 27, 2023
Published in print: Jul 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Sep 27, 2023
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Cited by
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