Influence of bitumen chemical composition and ageing on pavement performance

Abstract

The quality of road bitumen in asphalt mixtures is one of the most important factors affecting performance of the entire pavement structure during its service. In particular, the type and refining technology of the crude oil are the most significant aspects influencing bitumen properties. As the same time it is still necessary to assess other aspects that contribute to the changes in bitumen properties, such as bitumen aging during asphalt mixing, storage, transportation, laying and a gradually increasing oxidation in asphalt pavement structure during pavement service life. Bitumen originating from different producers and supplied to Lithuanian market satisfies the requirements of European standards concerning the basic physical properties, albeit certain instability processes in bitumen properties can be observed: bitumen is more liquid and less sticky at a laying temperature; reduced cohesion, increased cracking during compaction; reduced adhesion between bitumen and mineral materials; changes in perceptible properties (odour, colour), and others. These observations have led to numerous discussions on the potential ways of improving bitumen quality, selection of proper methods for bitumen quality assessment and determination of the recommended threshold values. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the effect of bitumen chemical composition and associated structure on asphalt pavement performance. Performance was expressed in terms of susceptibility to rutting measured by the Performance Grade system developed in the US. Based on the results obtained during this experimental study the limit values of bitumen fractional composition were identified.

Geogrid Reinforcement of Asphalt Pavements

“…Further, this example considers only one phenomenon (bottom-up cracking) while there are other factors either affecting this phenomenon or contributing to other phenomena such as resistance to low temperature (Zofka, Braham 2009), pavement dynamic response (Li et al 2012) or aging resistance (Li et al 2006). In the recent years, there is also a growing awareness that there is a close link between chemical and mechanical properties of asphaltic materials, which also needs to be taken into consideration (Paliukaitė et al 2015;Yut, Zofka 2014).…”

Effect of Aging on Chemical Composition and Rheological Properties of Neat and Modified Bitumen

“…Colloidal instability (Gaestel) index I c was calculated from SARA fractions, and with aging showed increased content level of asphaltenes [12,24,59]. The I c is usually used to compare the stability of different bitumens.…”

“…Most of the studies were focused on several functional groups, i.e., the carbonyls and sulfoxides, and thus on several peaks of the spectra to pursue the aging behaviour of the binder [17]. In addition, this test can be used in order to determine the chemical groups of the aged, modified, or unknown bitumen [24,66]. To determine the oxidation-related changes from FT-IR absorption, the band areas were used.…”

“…In addition, bitumen aging phases can be defined by fractional composition by the increasing molecular polarity of saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes [21]. With regard to chemical composition, a shift within the SARA (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) fractions can be observed with an increasing content of asphaltenes and decreasing content of aromatics over time [22][23][24]. These factors cause an increase in the viscosity of the bitumen and consequential stiffening of the mixture.…”

Evaluation of Structural and Thermal Properties of Rubber and HDPE for Utilization as Binder Modifier

“…Proportion and molecular weight of bitumen chemical fractions[3,[16][17][18][19]. Characteristics of the original bitumen.…”