Direct Observation of Crystalline Wax in Asphalt Binders by Variable-Temperature Polarizing Microscope
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 10
Abstract
Crystalline wax in asphalt binder greatly affects the low-temperature performance of the asphalt pavement, and the composition of the phase separation at the microscopic scale has not been completely determined. In this paper, it is demonstrated that of the different observing systems of a microscope, the reflected polarization system is the best method to observe the morphology of the crystalline wax clearly. The components of the phase separation (excluding asphaltene) is also validated. On this basis, base asphalts doped with pure wax and eight asphalts at three aging states were observed. The results showed that the shape of the pure wax changed first from round to polymorphic, and then to an aggregate with an increase in the carbon number of the pure waxes. In addition, aging increased the intermolecular force and solubility of the wax in the asphalt binder. Finally, low temperature reduced the solubility of the wax in the asphalt binder to form a crystalline wax, which can provide an explanation for the physical (thermoreversible) aging of the asphalt binder at low temperature.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 52008352, Sichuan Applied Basic Research Project (2021YJ0533), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, CHD under Grant 300102211505, and Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021JDTD0023).
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 10 • October 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 8, 2021
Accepted: Jan 27, 2022
Published online: Jul 19, 2022
Published in print: Oct 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2022
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