Analysis of Nanoscale Microstructures in Asphalts of Different Aging States
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 1
Abstract
Asphalt surface features revealed in the tapping-mode atomic force microscope (AFM) have been extensively studied. Most of the existing studies focus on the so-called bee-shaped surface feature, believed to be made of paraffin wax crystals. In the research reported in this paper, five asphalts of widely different aging states and asphaltenes obtained from two of these asphalts were examined by using an AFM in tapping mode. Two types of surface features were identified in all the specimens, as follows: (1) disk-shaped feature rising from the specimen surface, and (2) elliptical (and sometimes irregular) feature slightly recessed from the surface. In addition, a Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) asphalt (AAD) was used to study the morphology of asphaltenes in wax-free asphalt. The analysis of the topography and phase images of the microstructures revealed by AFM suggests that the disk-shaped and elliptical microstructures may contain asphaltenes. The morphology of asphaltenes from the asphalt extracted from a 36-year-old pavement appears to match the hypothetical so-called island molecular structure.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper reported in this paper was partially funded by an internal grant at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Grant No. G-YJ61).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 1 • January 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 26, 2014
Accepted: Feb 6, 2015
Published online: Jun 22, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 22, 2015
Published in print: Jan 1, 2016
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